CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Nonprofit agencies in Clayton County helped transport nearly 30 families, who claimed they were given a one-day notice as the Howard Johnson Hotel undergoes renovations, into new homes.
The families were staying long-term at the hotel before they were asked to leave last Monday.
However, Deborah Anglin with Hearts to Nourish Hope Inc. and Darryll Starks with Ujima Way Inc. said they were already working around the clock to place them somewhere new.
"Our model is to fix the problem, dig deep... not put a band aid on it," Anglin said, referring to the long-term effects of the work they do in the community.
"It's our understanding that basically what happened is they were doing renovations at the hotel and they had a plan that was approved and then there were changes because of the renovations, so they couldn't partially shut down and open."
Anglin and Starks said once they found out about the change on Saturday, they immediately got to work to find another plan.
“I got a phone call, it was on the weekend," said Anglin. "I contacted Darryll and said we need to put a plan together. Its hard to do that over the weekend but we started on Sunday, went into Monday, finding a place where everybody could go that fit their needs. By Tuesday we had everything worked out."
They explained that they had to get funding and do all the work behind the scenes.
“There’s just so many pieces that go into it. Things don’t happen overnight, and they don’t happen on the weekends – managers are not there, the owner is not there. " Anglin explained.
The nonprofits help place chronically homeless people and others in need into more stable housing among other services.
They eventually help families find long-term safe and stable homes.
“We had a van, Uber XLs, one of the hotel staff that was also being displaced - because they work and live there - she had a U-Haul, so she helped move our last client in a U-Haul," Starks said.
Organizers told 11Alive that they worked for more than four hours last Tuesday to transport everybody where they needed to be.
“I think everybody jumped in action to help," said Starks. "The fire marshals worked with us because they wanted everybody out by 3 p.m. but they gave us until 5:30 p.m."
Starks said a lot of their clients are in need of housing or tend to come from shelters.
"Many people have been evicted, displaced for some reason and now they’re living in hotels," he explained. "That’s why we utilize them so much because they can’t afford apartments so they can’t qualify for apartments."
He said the need has just increased, as affordable housing has become harder to find throughout the pandemic.
"It's sad to say but hotels are now hospitals, they’re nursing homes, they’re everything because those places are often full. They’re like a one-stop shop for housing which is very unfortunate in a lot of ways, but we’re glad we can use them so that people are not in their cars or on the street," he said.
Anglin and Starks said that despite all the difficult, last-minute changes, the situation could have been a lot worse.
"If we had not been told and we got the phone call that they're locking the doors at 3 p.m. and throwing us all out, that would've been absolutely atrocious," Anglin explained. "In this case, you saw everybody working together to do the very best they could in a bad situation."
The agencies are constantly looking for donations, volunteers or business partners to help them out.
To learn more about the Hearts to Nourish Hope Inc. organization, click their websites here.
Those who are interested in helping the Ujima Way nonprofit can also visit their website.