Originally published in July 2024 in partnership with Neighborhood Nexus.
In 2019, after almost two years of living in a hotel, Tracye Neal and her three children were finally able to move from an extended-stay to permanent housing with St. Vincent de Paul’s first Motel to Home assistance effort.
Tracye’s is one of hundreds of families that have been housed by United Way of Greater Atlanta’s Motel to Home Alliance since 2018. As a partnership of five nonprofits —Community Restoration Project, Crossroads Community Ministries, Frontline Housing, Inc., New Life Community Ministries, and St. Vincent de Paul Georgia — the alliance works tirelessly to move families in Gwinnett and across metro Atlanta from impermanent to permanent housing.
How it works
Motel to Home’s aim is not only to house those experiencing homelessness, but also to prevent it from happening again.
From motel to home
Today, Neal is the first line of contact for those in need of St. Vincent de Paul’s housing services.
Although most people housed through the Motel to Home program don’t go on to work for one of its partners, the rest of Neal’s experience is disturbingly common. Countrywide economic instability has led to not only record-breaking homelessness but also an increase in those staying outside of shelters by almost 50% from 2015 to 2023.
Paying it forward
Now, when an application comes to St. Vincent de Paul without the necessary requirements to obtain housing, it’s routed to Tracye Neal. Her task is to assist applicants with those missing pieces, like not meeting the income requirement.
“When they call and tell me, ‘Oh my God, I got approved,’ or, ‘I just moved.’ Or they send me pictures of their children smiling. It just gives me such a reward to help them get back on their feet! So that’s why I do what I do. That’s why we do what we do.”
– Tracye Neal
It’s time to step up like Tracye
Gwinnett has 2,083 unhoused students…that we know of. 848 of these children live in motels. They face hardships that no one — especially children — should experience in their lives, and they do so with great resiliency.
Because children aren’t keen to reveal the status of their living situation, student homelessness is underreported. Still, the data shows that for every school bus full of children in Gwinnett County, there is one homeless student.
A regional perspective
Because wages are failing to keep up with rising rent prices, rental properties are out of reach for lower-income earners. In Gwinnett alone, there are hundreds of families in urgent situations.
St. Vincent de Paul receives at least 30 applications for housing every day, and they are just one of six nonprofits in United Way’s Motel to Home Alliance. Despite the tremendous volume of applicants, every nonprofit partner involved in Motel to Home pushes forward, housing as many as they can.
Help us create better economic stability in our neighboorhoods and take others like Tracye from a motel to a home.
Become a supporter of the Motel to Home Alliance and other vital United Way of Greater Atlanta programs—when you donate, you create a better future for local kids, families and communities.
To stay informed about our work and other initiatives like Motel to Home, sign up to stay connected!
If you or someone you know is currently experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness, reach out to United Way 211 services for information and resources. You can also contact any of our partners mentioned in this article.