Wanted: Homeless camp tent-slasher

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Wanted: Homeless camp tent-slasher

Atlanta police are on the lookout for a man suspected of slicing open tents at an Old Fourth Ward homeless encampment. 

Cell phone footage appears to show 42-year-old Danielle Barnett, who goes by “Davinci,” wielding a boxcutter to slash through some of the makeshift homes pitched on Old Wheat Street, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. The incident occurred at the same camp where unhoused resident Cornelius Taylor was struck by a municipal vehicle during an encampment clearing operation in January. Taylor died at a hospital hours later, inciting calls for the city to pause similar “sweeps.”

As video of the attack spread on social media over the weekend, housing advocates claimed it reflected shortcomings in the city’s efforts to protect its unhoused residents. 

“The heart of Atlanta needs a serious check right now,” Rev. Nolan English of Traveling Grace Ministries told Fox 5. “We were known as a city too busy to hate, and right now, we’re looking like a city too busy to love.”

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Atlanta Housing breaks ground on Bowen Homes redevelopment

Atlanta Housing (AH) and its private developer partners last week broke ground on the $63.6 million redevelopment of the former Bowen Homes public housing site, the city housing agency said in a press release.

AH’s Westside property has been sitting idle since the complex was razed in 2009, and the ambitious overhaul — expected to produce 2,000 new residences — has been years in the making. 

AH tapped the joint venture of The Benoit Group and McCormack Baron Salazar in 2022 to redevelop the property, with a projected construction start date of 2024.

The first phase of the overgrown property’s resurgence promises 151 apartments — including 48 units affordably priced for households earning 30% or below the area median income (AMI) of $32,250 annually for a family of four, and 49 units for families earning up to 60% AMI. Another 44 units will be market-rate.

The project is funded in part by a $40 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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Affordable housing project displaces hotel residents

An aging extended-stay hotel in Gwinnett County is bound for an adaptive-reuse makeover that will create 73 apartments for low-income households — but the site’s redevelopment will displace at least eight families that have long called the Spring Swallow Lodge home.

Jim Pettway told Atlanta News First that he’s lived at 7065 Jimmy Carter Blvd. in Peachtree Corners for the last two years. He never expected to be uprooted, nor was he aware the Gwinnett housing authority was eyeing the property for an overhaul.

“I was assured by the previous owner of the building that I would be allowed to continue to stay here after it was sold,” he told the TV station. “We were given no indication that it was sold to Gwinnett Housing.”

Gwinnett Housing Corporation acquired the site just two weeks ago for $13.2 million, and agency officials say they plan to help everyone relocate while it undergoes renovations. Residents have been given 90 days to move out, and the housing agency has said they can apply to move back in after renovations are complete, according to ANF. 

“They’re not going to have to pay for any moving costs and also counseling,” Gwinnett Housing Corporation CEO Lejla Prljaca told ANF. “We have an entire team who will help find the properties that are suitable for them.”But finding affordably priced housing for the displaced residents could be a challenge, as the city of Atlanta discovered with Forest Cove Apartments, a Section 8 complex that was condemned and ordered demolished. The Atlanta mayor’s office led a prolonged resident relocation effort that wound up scattering former residents across the metro area — a testament to the region’s severe affordable housing shortage.

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National nonprofit tells DOGE: “Hands Off Housing!”

The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) is urging the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to preserve HUD’s workforce, instead of axing half of the staff, as the Elon Musk-led agency has said it intends to do.

“[DOGE] is proposing to cut HUD staff by half, decimating the agency and its ability to help states and communities address their most pressing affordable housing, community development, and homelessness challenges,” the NLIHC said in an email blast on Monday.

HUD personnel are already spread too thin to keep up with Section 8 inspection requests. What’s more, the nationwide housing shortage has caused a backlog of HUD rent-voucher recipients who can’t find housing.

The NLIHC also noted that the federal government, including HUD, could shut down if Congress doesn’t pass a final fiscal year 2025 spending bill by its March 14 deadline. The U.S. House’s latest budget proposal would already slash HUD funding by $2.3 billion, or 3%, but a total shutdown — and mass layoffs — could plunge HUD’s Section 8 program into turmoil.

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Today’s Housing Happenings newsletter was written by Sean Keenan and edited by Meredith Hobbs.