Health and mental health services;

Transitional and other types of special housing that provide supportive social services for mentally ill and retarded persons.

1 ten cities indicate that they have raised about as locally from public and private resources as they can; ey cannot meet the need with local resources, and that funds and federal intervention are needed.

It is estimated that at any given night there are at least 3,000 homeless persons in Atlanta, with thousands more housed "marginally" in cheap hotels and boarding homes or living temporarily with family or friends.

The urgency of the problem became starkly evident when 17 homeless people died during a period of extremely harsh weather this past winter. All emergency shelters were full or operating beyond their capacity at that time. In response to the crisis, community efforts to meet the urgent needs of homeless people were increased. This included an initiative by the City of Atlanta to make available a public building whenever the weather dropped below freezing to house those who were turned away from other local shelters.

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A report entitled The Impact Homelessness in Atlanta conducted by Research Atlanta, Inc., and commissioned by the City's Task Force on Homelessness defines the homeless population as: "persons whose primary nighttime residence is in publicly privately operated shelters, the streets, doorways, bus stations, public plazas and parks, abandoned buildings, loading docks and well-hidden sites known only to their users."

Increasingly, Atlanta's homeless population includes women, young people, mentally disabled and economically displaced individuals as well as "shopping-cart men" and "bag ladies." It is a diverse group which the Task Force report profiles as:

Mentally disabled, including many who have been de-
institutionalized from state hospitals and are in need of
ongoing mental health care;

Short-term unemployed, affected by economic conditions and a
lack of marketable job skills.

Ex-offenders who have been unable to return to the
mainstream of society;

ty-one percent have lived in Atlanta less than one year. 50 percent are believed to be transients, young aways, and people passing through in search of jobs.

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proximately 87 percent are male, 60 percent are Black, percent are White. Almost 60 percent are betweem the es of 20-35. Fifty-one percent of the males and 13 cent of the women pursued vocational or college education on graduation from high school.

random survey conducted by Atlanta University's Graduate hool of Social Work, re:ealed that 35 percent had been meless for less than three months; 27 percent had been meless from between three and six months; 12 percent have d no place to call home from six months to one year; and percent had been homeless for over one year.

e shift in employment trends toward a service/information se which requires more skilled workers.

e increased numbers of young, "unattached," highly mobile ople, coupled with a decreased strength of family ties,

anges in approaches to serving alcohol dependence.

officials believe that economic factors contributing to ent and the high cost of living, as well as cuts in social and a lack of low-cost housing should also be considered ses of the problem of homelessness.

iderable public funds are being spent in Atlanta to care serve the homeless population. The annual cost of these is estimated in excess of $20.5 million. Another 3 to 4 ollars is spent annually to process the homeless through ta and Fulton County criminal justice system. Seventy-five of these expenditures are used to provide mental and health care; 15 percent goes to the criminal justice

Research Atlanta, Inc. estimates that 90 percent of the costs of providing services to the homeless in Atlanta are borne by the public sector with the majority of the other 10 percent, coming from religious, volunteer and charitable associations.

With the leadership of Atlanta's religious community and the support of Mayor Andrew Young, a special Task Force on the Homeless was created in 1981. The Task Force, a coalition of religious groups, the downtown business sector and city and county governments, is partially staffed with city funds. Mayor Young sits on the Task Force, as do four other city officials including representatives from local law enforcement and the court system.

The Task Force serves as a forum for discussion of issues which relate to homelessness and has been an important advocate for expanding needed services such as day shelter programs, public toilets, and emergency food and shelter programs. Through the various church groups, the Task Force has mobilized community resources including volunteers, donations and facilities. The City of Atlanta's financial contribution to efforts to assist homeless persons includes the following:

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$250,000 of Jobs Bill and CDBG monies for converting
downtown facility to a rehabilitated and fully operational
day shelter. The facility serves up to 600 people daily
providing day 'labor services, health counseling, and

information and referral services.

$100,000 for an emergency night shelter service to provide
the homeless with a place to stay when temperatures drop
below freezing and other shelters are filled to capacity.

$25,000 in CDBG funds to a local non-profit organization
for operation of a family shelter.

$25,000 in CDBG monies for the operation of a community food
bank, and

$15,000 in general fund monies for staffing of the Task
Force, and to develop an information bank and communication
link for services to the homeless.

Force on the Homeless has indentified the various f its constituency, and is working to develop resources ese needs. Among them are:

term funding commitments for area shelters.

ional emergency shelter facilities, especially for ies with children and single women.

sitional shelter facilities to house certain groups of omeless people for periods of up to six months, during n time support services would be provided to encourage pendent living.

tional day shelters to protect the homeless from street e and provide food, resting areas, toilets, showers, cal screening, job referrals, legal counseling and rmation services.

t-term residential facilities for the mentally disabled. is estimated that only 10 percent of Grady Hospital's patients who need this service are receiving it.

-term residential facilities for homeless persons with pacitating mental illness or advanced alcoholism.

-income rental housing.

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elopment of better linkages between homeless viders and agencies providing job training and placement. als in Atlanta believe that reducing homelessness will large continuous outlay of new funds and the development ms of cooperation among public/private and volunteer ms."