In Atlanta, thousands of families are doing everything right: working, paying their bills, and trying to stay afloat in an increasingly expensive housing market.
Yet for many, one unexpected expense or a few weeks of lost income can trigger a crisis that leads to eviction.
Over the past three years, we have seen both the scale of the eviction challenge and the promise of smarter solutions.
At Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement (ARCHI), we launched a coordinated rental, mortgage, and utility relief portal to help residents quickly apply for assistance when they are at risk of losing their homes.
Developed with TechBridge and designed closely with social service organizations, the platform allows residents to complete a single universal application and be automatically matched with an organization that may be able to help.
Process has helped thousands, but it’s not enough
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Instead of calling multiple agencies or filling out the same paperwork over and over again, families can apply once and be connected to support from trusted community partners like the City of Atlanta’s Housing Help Center, Midtown Assistance Center, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Catholic Charities Atlanta, Emmaus House, Crossroads Community Ministries, Society of St. Vincent de Paul Georgia, BCM Georgia, Zaban-Paradies Center, Gateway Center and Clifton Sanctuary Ministries.
The system works. In just over three years, the portal has processed nearly 80,000 applications and helped streamline access to more than $6 million in assistance.
By shifting the administrative burden away from applicants and toward a coordinated system, ARCHI and our partner agencies save time and resources while connecting residents to help more quickly.
But the data also tells us something else: the need far exceeds the resources available.
The Eviction Lab at Princeton University reports that the five-county metro Atlanta region - Cobb, Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett - recorded nearly 144,000 eviction filings in 2025; more than New York City or the entire Commonwealth of Virginia.
That volume is a clear sign of widespread housing instability and a reminder that prevention tools only work at scale when communities invest enough to meet the demand.
Despite the efficiency of the portal and the generosity of partner agencies, thousands of families who asked for help simply couldn’t be served because funding simply isn’t sufficient. Metro-wide data shows that fewer than 10% of households who qualify for assistance ultimately receive it.
Prevention is more cost-effective than crisis response
The patterns in the data are telling, but there is also a deeply human story behind the numbers.
Applications decline during tax season because many families use their tax refunds to catch up on rent and utilities. Requests rise again in late summer, when parents juggle work and child care during school breaks while facing higher electricity bills from Georgia’s intense heat.
These aren’t people who are careless with money or unwilling to work. They are families navigating tight budgets who sometimes need just a small amount of short-term support to stay in their homes.
Prevention is also far more cost-effective than crisis response. When a family loses housing, the consequences ripple outward - from school disruptions for children to higher costs for shelters, health care, and other public systems.
In Atlanta, we’ve shown that coordinated systems and technology can make assistance faster and more efficient. But the data also makes something clear: when families reach out for help before a crisis becomes a catastrophe, communities need the capacity to respond.
As Georgia’s leaders, organizations, and communities consider ways to strengthen housing stability during this legislative season, the lesson from this work is straightforward. Smart systems matter, but they must be paired with sufficient support to ensure that families who ask for help have a real chance of receiving it.
For thousands of hardworking Georgians, that small margin of support can make the difference between losing a home and staying in one.
Jeff Smythe is executive director of Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement (ARCHI), a nonprofit collaborative working to address the root causes of health disparities, including housing instability, across metro Atlanta.
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