By Andy Miller, Renuka Rayasam, KFF Health News (TNS)
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. – As principal of Dunaire Elementary School, Sean Deas has seen firsthand the difficulties children face in long-stay hotels. About 10% of the scholars at his school east of Atlanta live in such a college.
The children, Deas said, were often exposed to violence on hotel property, showed aggression or fear because they lived in a crowded single room, and faced food insecurity because some hotel rooms didn’t have kitchens.
“Social trauma is the biggest challenge” when students first arrive, Deas said. “We hear a lot about sleep issues.” To meet students' needs, Deas developed a schoolwide program with counselors, a food pantry and special protocols for coping with individuals who might go to sleep in school.
“Beyond the classroom, there is a social part,” he said. “We have to find ways to support the families too.”
For low-income families on the lookout for housing, extended-stay hotels are sometimes a final resort. According to the Education Department, greater than 100,000 students nationwide lived in extended-stay hotels in 2022, although officials say that is probably going an undercount. Children living in hotels are considered homeless under federal law, and in some Atlanta-area counties, about 40% of homeless students live in such shelters, based on local officials.
And with rising rents and evictions, in addition to limited access to public housing, the usage of extended-stay hotels is becoming more common as a long-term option. Like other types of homelessness, living in hotels can result in or worsen physical and mental health problems in children, say family advocates and researchers who study homelessness.
In the Atlanta area, inspections of extended-stay hotels have uncovered ventilation problems, insect infestations, mold and other health risks. Children living there may additionally experience or witness crime and gun violence. The increasing use of extended-stay hotels is a warning sign, observers said, and reflects the dearth of sufficient reasonably priced housing policy within the United States
And the crisis has “lifelong consequences,” said Sarah Saadian of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The only way to truly address this shortage is for significant federal funding to be available at scale. Build more housing and close the gap between rents and wages.”
Evictions often force families to remain in hotels – and could be stranded there. “Many landlords refuse to rent to people whose credit has been affected by evictions, even if the tenant is not responsible for the eviction,” said Joy Monroe, founder and CEO of the Single Parent Alliance & Resource Center, or SPARC, a nonprofit Group within the Atlanta metro area that has helped a whole lot of families move from hotels to apartments or rental homes.
Advocates say black women and other women of color, often with children, are way more prone to be kicked out and more prone to should stay in long-stay hotels.
Some residents are also families fleeing domestic violence, they are saying.
Hotels often require no deposits, application fees or background checks, providing immediate relief for families looking for accommodation. While there are higher-priced options, the typical price for an extended-stay economy class room was $56.68 per night in the primary three months of 2024, based on Highland Group, a research firm that focuses on the Hotel sector focused – what works at greater than $1,700 per thirty days.
And while the rooms offer protection from other types of homelessness — like sleeping in a automotive or in a tent — a hotel is “not a place to raise children,” Michael Bryant, CEO of the New Life Community Alliance, told families in South Dekalb helps, a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, move from hotels to apartments.
Children living in hotels are sometimes behind on their vaccinations and will find yourself within the emergency room due to delays in care, said Gary Kirkilas, a pediatrician in Phoenix who helps children, teens and families who’re currently homeless or from are vulnerable to homelessness. About 75% of the unstable children he sees have not less than one developmental delay, and others have significant emotional and behavioral problems.
Tanazia Scott, who has been shuttling between two extended-stay hotels for several months, said her three children are “depressed and upset” about hotel life.
An eviction left Kassandra Norman, 58, and her two daughters on a months-long trip to Atlanta-area hotels. They slept in a automotive outside a supermarket for 3 months. “It’s hard to do homework in the car and in the hotel,” said 19-year-old Kazuri Taylor, Norman’s younger daughter.
Some hotels are banning children from playing outside of their parking lots, causing additional stress, advocates say. That's why Yvonne Thomas, 45, and her family were evicted from an extended-stay hotel in DeKalb County. She said, “They kicked us out for nothing.”
And there are other problems. More than a dozen students at Dunaire Elementary are staying at an extended-stay property called the Haven Hotel. In August, the DeKalb County Division of Code Enforcement said the hotel “failed to meet minimum life safety standards.” According to reports from the State Health Inspectorate, cockroaches and spiders live in rooms and passageways. Residents say they were charged $1 for a roll of bathroom paper.
The hotel's owner and manager couldn’t be reached for comment after several attempts.
“Nobody talks about these families,” said Sue Sullivan, a community advocate and volunteer with the Motel to Home coalition in Atlanta, who brings toys, book bags, food and toiletries on her hotel visits.
A health inspection in February at one other DeKalb County hotel found several rooms with poor ventilation, insect infestation and mold, amongst other things. Two people were fatally shot there in May.
Children who experience violence can develop anxiety, depression and other disorders, said Charles Moore, director of the Urban Health Initiative at Emory University School of Medicine. “You can feel emotional aftershocks,” said Moore, who has visited Atlanta-area hotels.
But closing such hotels can harm families given the dearth of reasonably priced housing, the dearth of national federal tenant protections and the dearth of outing options, said Terri Lewinson, an associate professor on the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. Extended-stay hotels “provide an accessible option for families who have no other choice,” she said.
To alleviate the housing problem, county officials and nonprofits across the country have creatively filled the gap. In the Seattle area, for instance, officials bought King County hotels and converted them into reasonably priced housing, said Mark Skinner of the Highland Group.
In the Atlanta area, SPARC and the local United Way Motel to Home offer financing to assist people transition into housing.
In DeKalb County, where Dunaire Elementary School is situated, greater than a 3rd of the 1,300 homeless students live in hotels, based on Commissioner Ted Terry.
“I hope we can save the children,” he said. “It’s not a safe environment for them.”
Advocates who need to help hotel residents suggest constructing more cost-effective housing and stronger protections for renters from evictions. The federal government has No investment was made in repairs This is crucial to keep up existing social housing, and 25-year-old laws effectively prohibits the development of recent social housing.
Plus, it's “extremely quick, easy and cheap” to evict tenants in Georgia, said Taylor Shelton, an associate professor of geosciences at Georgia State University whose research focuses on social inequalities and concrete spaces. “The playing field is heavily tilted towards landlords.”
Under such circumstances, it's difficult to interrupt the cycle of poverty, said Jamie Rush, a senior attorney on the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Most parents want their children to have a safe, stable home,” Rush said. “You can’t budget your way out of poverty.”
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