'Exiting homelessness': Language matters in the work to restore dignity to Georgia's unhoused

Kim Wolfe saw a news report about a mother sharing a hotel room with her eight children, one of whom was battling kidney failure, and immediately felt a tug.

The mother, Ebon Sledge, wasn't considered homeless because of the hotel room roof over her head but was considered housing insecure.

Wolfe, who works as developmental director for Open Doors, an organization helping Georgia residents battling homelessness and housing insecurity, knew she wanted to reach out.

“I think we can help her pretty easily if she wants our help,” Wolfe thought at the time. 

It wasn't long after the organization reached out to the Sledge family that they were able to move into a five-bedroom, three-bathroom home.

“God gave me all of that with an additional bedroom and bathroom,” Sledge wrote on social media.

Many people the organization helps, like Sledge, have had door after door close, Wolfe shared in an interview with Paste BN. 

Open Doors exists to keep this from happening to families. 

“They're in a down space and through Open Doors, we're able to negotiate and make sure that they can get into housing,” Wolfe said. “They're able to go out and be a regular consumer. I can't underscore that enough, what that means to people, to just have an opportunity to be treated like everybody else.”

Lending a hand: Living in hotels, with a child on dialysis, a Georgia mother makes plea for help

It isn't easy to find a home

Finding homes isn't easy when you’re doing it on your own or don’t have the proper connections, Matt Hurd, a licensed clinical social worker and executive director of Open Doors, told Paste BN.

Many organizations that help those looking for housing abide by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s definition of homelessness. 

According to HUD’s guidelines, the unhoused include those living on the streets, in a shelter, or in places not meant to be lived in, Hurd told Paste BN.

HUD considers people homeless if they fall under these four categories:

• Those who don't have a fixed, regular nighttime home
• Those who will lose their primary nighttime homes within 14 days
• Unaccompanied youth or families with children who have not had lease or ownership agreement during the last 60 days or have moved within the last 60 days
• Families fleeing or trying to leave domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or other dangerous or life-threatening conditions with no residence, resources or support networks

Many people don't know that a much larger population is considered housing insecure. We may be unaware of the coworkers, friends, family members and associates around us who may be crashing on a friend’s couch or facing eviction.

“They're not what we would consider stabilized in their housing permanency,” Hurd shared. 

Many people who are housing insecure are living paycheck-to-paycheck with a household income that’s less than $30,000 a year, said Hurd. Some people are barely able to afford rent. Extra expenses such as car maintenance or high medical bills can really hurt them financially.

It’s something he witnessed himself as director of a residential services program for a large behavioral health agency in DeKalb County. Hurd managed about 200 units of supportive housing for people battling severe mental illness. 

He was on vacation at Disney World with his family when received a call from a staff member sharing bad news. 

“We just found out that 40 of our units that we're leasing … they're not going to renew the lease,” the staff member told him.

Hurd wasn’t an expert in real estate, but knew he needed to act fast to find a place for these people in need. That situation led him to Open Doors, where he now works. He told the organization he needed 40 2-bedroom units in 30 days. 

“Open Doors found those units, they navigated real estate, they worked their leads and as a behavioral health clinician working in a nonprofit, I didn't have the capacity to manage those relationships," Hurd shared.

Homelessness: 'God gave me all of that': Once living in hotel room, Georgia mother of 8 gets home of her own

Open Doors handles the real estate aspect of combatting homelessness

Until last year, Open Doors primarily served as a connector between nonprofits and rental subsidies to help people suffering from homelessness find housing.

“We would help find a unit for those folks once they were ready to sign a lease and kind of take that burden off the nonprofits because that's not their area of expertise,” said Hurd.

Open Doors has helped about 130 nonprofits in the Atlanta area and acts as a broker agent. The group finds units, secures them at an affordable rental rate and gets people approved for housing.

In short, Open Doors handles the real estate piece so direct service agencies and nonprofits can get people ready for housing, Wolfe shared.

Similar programs in other areas include Housing Connector in Washington State and Lotus Campaign in North Carolina, the group said.

Lottery wins: Maryland family wins 5th big scratch-off lottery prize since 2017, totaling $350,000

A new program for the housing insecure

Last year, Open Doors created a program looking at gaps they could help fill. One of those gaps is helping those who don't match the definition of homelessness but still need to find a place to live.

Over the past eight years, the program received requests for help from people who don't consider themselves homeless but are in need of permanent housing.

“What we decided as an organization with our board was that we were going to take the success that we found with property navigation for people exiting homelessness and slowly start expanding that … and to really tackle housing insecurity,” Hurd said. 

Open Doors has created a list of apartment communities that show which subsidies the complexes accept. This makes it easier for those looking for housing to find a place they quality for.

The group negotiates for those in need to get approved, which can be difficult if people apply on their own. Open Doors also has a safety net fund for people they place in case they fall behind in the first 12 months. 

“We're still there, even after the housing placement is done,” said Wolfe in reference to the Sledge family. “We're a bit of a concierge service for the property so if there is something that comes up, we're able to step in and hopefully avoid housing loss.”

They’ve also launched pilot programs to make sure the program works as best as it can. One program involves Fort McPherson and its central intake center for veterans. Here is the story of one of those veterans.

Attacked: Montana 19-year-old beat homeless man to death after gas station encounter, police said

One veteran’s journey from housing insecurity to stability

Daniel Redding is a disabled veteran who struggles with PTSD. The New Jersey native has bounced around quite a bit over the years and has stayed in Hawaii, New York, Arizona and North Carolina.

“I was always staying either with a relative or friend or at a hotel,” he told Paste BN. 

He ended up in Georgia in September 2022 because his stepson lived there. He lived at an extended stay hotel and eventually, his life partner joined him.

He went to Fort McPherson to seek mental health treatment through Veterans Affairs and in November of 2022, contacted Open Doors when someone suggested he do so.

Redding had a steady paycheck coming in through disability, but his credit score wasn’t the best, so he couldn’t lease his own apartment at the time. 

Open Doors was able to negotiate and secure a lease for him. The group helped with his down payment. By December, he had his own two-bedroom apartment. 

In February, he started the VA’s Compensated Work Therapy program and now has a job of his own. He and his life partner plan to look for a home to rent once his lease ends in October.

“I'm stable,” Redding said. “I was able to go out and get a car loan and now I'm driving back and forth to work … Everything has changed.”

His life partner, Shayna, said Open Doors has helped them with much more than putting a roof over their heads.“I just brought my grandchildren down for a visit during their summer break, and we would not have been able to do that if we were still in the extended stay hotel,” she said in a statement to Paste BN.

Montana: After homeless man beaten to death in Montana town, advocates say they saw it coming

Open Doors will ‘go the extra mile,’ staffer says

Cherie DeBose works for Open Doors as a programs coordinator and is part of the team who helped the Sledge and Redding families.

Open Doors works with over 200 properties who understand that clients they work with have barriers they’re trying to overcome.

Redding’s barrier was his credit score, DeBose shared.

“He had the funds, but of course, the credit score was preventing him from independently renting on his own. Since we have property partners here in Gwinnett County, which is his preference, we were able to link up with his property," she said.

Open Doors assured the property that he’d be supported by them and within 30 days, his place was secured.

DeBose shared how Open Doors would like to work with properties in other states but the organization isn't quite there yet. Her desire to help others find stable housing is so strong that she’s willing to do whatever she can.

“I am willing to go that extra mile,” she said. “I've received a few phone calls from different states asking for assistance. I have a team of two people and we will do that work to find resources in that state for that individual.”

At the very least, they’ll point people in the right direction, the organization said.

Pay-what-you-can: How a North Carolina pay-what-you-can café is fighting loneliness and food insecurity

'Exiting homelessness': Why language matters

The group also cares strongly about language while helping people struggling to find stable housing regain their dignity.

When staff members talk about homelessness and housing insecurity, they use the term “exiting homelessness.”

That’s intentional, said Hurd, executive director of Open Doors.

“We don't want people to be defined by their circumstance,” he said. “Part of our work also is making sure that we're educating our partners, we're educating the public and the community. People that we work with and we serve are more than just the circumstance of their homelessness.”

Struggling to find stable housing or losing a home can be very traumatic, Hurd shared. Open Doors doesn’t want to inflict more trauma on the people it helps. 

One way Open Doors tries to make the search for housing better is by educating properties it works with. The organization also hosts housing fairs where housing communities “lay out the red carpet and court our clients,” said Hurd.

“They're not seen as a kind of a different class of people because they just happen to be exiting homelessness,” he said. “It's restoring dignity, from a public perspective, to the men and women and children who are having to deal with the situation.”

Hurd also shared that the 130 organizations Open Doors works with do most of the heavy lifting. They’re the ones on the ground and in shelters interacting with people one-on-one. 

Wolfe, Open Doors’ development director, pointed out common goals between Open Doors and the nonprofits they help.

“We all have a similar goal,” she said. “Welcoming people home."

To connect with Open Doors, visit www.opendoorsatl.org, call (470) 222-3213 or email info@opendoorsatl.org.