ATLANTA — The city of Atlanta has granted a major charity $200,000 to move after the group said they fell victim to unaffordable housing on the Beltline.
Getting over the Beltline hurdle was just the first step for Hosea Helps. Now, they need $600,000 in the next three weeks to make this building work.
The City of Atlanta has stepped in to make sure Hosea Helps still has a place to feed the hungry.
A large sum has paid for the Forest Hills Drive Building, moving the charity off Donnelly Avenue, where they became a face of an affordable housing problem.
“He put his money where his mouth is. We have a $200,000 grant from Mayor Kasim Reed and the City of Atlanta,” said CEO Elisabeth Omilami.
Omilami also mentioned the impact of the Beltline.
“Who knew that property values would go up because of the Beltline?” Omilami said. “We got booted out because of that. We didn’t purchase that building either because it needed tons of renovations.”
Sarah Elizabeth Reed, first lady of the city of Atlanta, weighed on the Beltline as well.
“You know there’s so much going on with the Beltline,” Reed said. "I think the city is really making an intentional effort to balance all the positive development with policies to ensure there are real, serious affordable housing as promised along the Beltline.”
The topic is what led to critics of former Beltline CEO Paul Morris, who stepped down this week. Over the summer, a joint investigation by the Georgia News Lab and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed many missed opportunities to ensure and promote affordable housing as promised along the Beltline.
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Hosea Williams’ granddaughter, Porsha Williams, who is known for her reality TV fame, encouraged others to donate to the struggling charity.
“I just wanted to make a personal pledge just for today of $10,000,” the granddaughter said.
Omilami said they have a lot of work to do.
“It is urgent work and it cannot wait but we need Atlanta to help,” Omilami said.
Hosea Helps said it still needs more than half a million dollars to fix and close on the newly-purchased property. The organizations needs to be off the westside by Sept. 15.
“We need people to give because this building needs a lot of renovation before we can roll out all of our programs in the way that we’re used to doing it,” Omilami said.
You can help the organization by donating on their crowdfunding page.
Cox Media Group
