Category Archives: Homelessness

Mayor’s Panhandling Proposal Allows 180 Days in Jail, Even on First Offense (UPDATE 1)

(APN) ATLANTA — Mayor Kasim Reed said that he was vetoing legislation that passed City Council concerning aggressive panhandling because it was cruel, harsh, and inhumane; however, Atlanta Progressive News has learned that the Mayor’s proposal in fact provides for the same maximum jail sentence–180 days in jail–for any offense of aggressive panhandling, and adds a minimum jail sentence for […]

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BREAKING: Simms Out at Atlanta Housing Authority

(APN) ATLANTA — Barney Simms, the number two smiling face behind mass demolition of public housing and mass displacement of low-income residents in Atlanta, is no longer working at the Atlanta Housing Authority, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. Simms began as a critic of AHA and went on to hold the position of Vice President for External Affairs, doing most […]

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Panhandling Proposals Likely Unconstitutional; CSO Never Enforced

(APN) ATLANTA — Today, the City Council of Atlanta is hosting a second Work Session on proposed changes to the City’s Commercial Solicitation Ordinance (CSO), which has not been enforced since its enactment in 2005.  However, Atlanta Progressive News has learned that, according to Gerry Weber, a constitutional scholar who teaches at Emory University School of Law, neither the current […]

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Beltline TADAC Report: Refine Affordable Housing Program

(APN) ATLANTA — The Atlanta Beltline is not meeting its affordable housing goals and its affordable housing program needs to be refined, according to a report commissioned by the Atlanta Beltline Tax Allocation District Advisory Committee (TADAC), entitled Atlanta Beltline: Five Year Work Plan 2006 – 2010 review. The report is noteworthy because as previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, […]

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Bond Seeks More Prison for Aggressive Panhandlers in Atlanta

(APN) ATLANTA — Councilman Michael Julian Bond (Post 1-at-large), who serves as Chair of the Public Safety/Legal Administration (PS/LA) Cmte of the City Council of Atlanta, has introduced legislation which seeks to increase the penalty for individuals convicted of aggressive panhandling to six months of prison time, for any third and subsequent offenses. Introduction of the legislation–which Bond said was […]

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CBS Richmond Examines AHA’s Demolition Model

(APN) ATLANTA — A CBS affiliate based in Richmond, Virginia, visited Atlanta in March 2012 after Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones has said he wants the city to emulate Atlanta’s model of mass public housing demolitions and mass evictions of residents. In the series of two news segments, each about a six minutes, reporter Sandra Jones provided contrasting views on the […]

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(IPS) Obama’s 2013 Budget Slashes Aid for Working Families

This article first appeared on the Inter-Press Service website at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106894 ATLANTA, Georgia, Feb 29, 2012 (IPS) – The federal budget for fiscal year 2013 proposed by President Barack Obama severely cuts aid for working families by targeting at least two programmes, the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) and Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), that aid the nation’s most vulnerable working […]

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Task Force for Homeless Eviction Granted, Appeal Expected

  (APN) ATLANTA — Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall issued a verbal order–with written ruling forthcoming–on Friday, February 03, 2012, first, evicting Anita and Jim Beaty, Executive Director and Board President of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, by February 15, 2012; second, ordering the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta to transition hundreds of homeless men […]

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(IPS) HUD Changes Demolition Rules after Abuses by AHA, Others

This article first appeared on the Inter-Press Service at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106648 ATLANTA, Georgia, Feb 3, 2012 (IPS) – Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the publication of a new notice which significantly tightens its procedures for the processing of public housing demolition applications by local housing authorities.The change – known as Notice PIH 2012-7 […]

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(IPS) Homeless Play Key Role in Occupy Movement

This article first appeared on the Inter-Press Service website at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106188. ATLANTA, Georgia, Dec 12, 2011 (IPS) – Homeless people make up a significant proportion of participants in the Occupy Movement in cities across the United States, from Los Angeles to Atlanta, where at times they comprise an estimated third of the occupiers. When the organisers of the Washington, DC […]

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Emory University Issues Response to Task Force Lawsuit

(APN) ATLANTA — Emory University and Emory Health Care have issued a statement in response to a request from Atlanta Progressive News concerning the lawsuit filed by the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless regarding Emory’s alleged participation in the conspiracy to sabotage the shelter. “Emory University and Emory Healthcare were named as defendants in a Dekalb County lawsuit […]

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Task Force for the Homeless Sues Emory University

(APN) ATLANTA — The Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless has sued Emory University and Emory Healthcare for allegedly engaging in a conspiracy to sabotage the shelter, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by Atlanta Progressive News. The case, 11A39185-5 is filed in the State Court of DeKalb County.  The complaint was filed on Tuesday, October 11, […]

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Federal Court Clears Atlanta in Homeless Task Force Lawsuit

(APN) ATLANTA — US District Judge Thomas Thrash ruled against the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless in a Motion for Summary Judgement in its claims against the City of Atlanta, and ruled in favor of the City in its counterclaim for unpaid water bills, according to a copy of Thrash’s ruling, dated Friday, September 21, 2011, posted on […]

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Task Force for the Homeless in Mediation with City, Other Parties

(APN) ATLANTA — The Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, which has sued the City of Atlanta and other parties for conspiring to sabotage and destroy the shelter, is in mediation talks with several parties, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. These parties include the City of Atlanta, United Way, Emory University, Central Atlanta Progress, Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, Manny […]

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Georgia Supreme Court Seeks Olens’s Opinion on Atlanta’s Secret Vote

(APN) ATLANTA — The Supreme Court of Georgia has requested the opinion of Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens in a letter dated September 01, 2011, regarding the lawsuit currently before the Court, Matthew Cardinale v. City of Atlanta et al., which was brought by APN’s News Editor–the present writer–challenging the City Council of Atlanta’s secret vote of February 2010. “Dear […]

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