Stable communities leads to successful schools

Stable Communities leads to
Successful Schools

I hope all is well.
As schools are starting back, government, city council and non profit boards are meeting to plan their yearly calendars, candidates and elected officials gearing up for campaign season, we must be reminded that everything comes back to having decent stabilize housing.

Evictions are being filed as the COVID 19 assistance is sparsely being distributed and our children are being forced to live in apartment communities where owners are refusing to repair their property..

Prior to COVID 19 some of our schools had transient rates over 40 percent and currently all of the public schools in the Mableton and Austell community are economically disadvantaged) title 1 schools according to the definition. A family of 4 with income less than $40,000 a year can qualify for free or reduce lunch.

Some of our schools are 90 percent economically disadvantaged.

It will take a village

To maintain stabilizing housing, to protect our children, to maintain careers, to focus on our health everything comes back to housing.

We have a demographics that will continue to be transient unless we enforce policies be put in place that addresses long term solutions.

No more can we allow for apartment investors to benefit on rapid rehousing funding, motel to home funding knowing that after 6 months the same residents will be evicted because their income can't maintain rent.

The same apartment investors allowing for 6 people to be crammed up in 2 bedroom apartments just to make rent and refusing to make repairs on aging apartments and filing evictions on people who speak up.

Career fairs are good however if the jobs are not paying at least $50,000 a year, the challenges will continue. For example if a person take a $30,000 a year job and have 1 child that household no longer qualifies for safety net programs such as food stamps, they barely can maintain rent and may not qualify for childcare benefits so basically they work the entire month with nothing to show for it. So to even to have a chance the income must be at least $50, 000 a year. The discussions must be about being strategic, setting realistic goals and plans.

If we know our schools have a 90 percent economically disadvantaged rate, please note we need schools, representatives, churches, businesses, homeowners, renters everyone at the table to put concrete plans in place to move our communities forward.

Included is invitation to renters advocate townhall meeting and current pictures of Silver Creek Crossing Apartments located on Riverside parkway in the city limits of Mableton Georgia who is refusing to make repairs.