STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — As principal of Dunea Elementary School, Sean Deas has seen firsthand the challenges faced by children living in extended stay hotels. About 10 percent of the students at his school, just east of Atlanta, live there.
Diess said children are often exposed to violence on hotel grounds, exhibit aggression and anxiety due to living in crowded cubicles, and face food shortages because some hotel rooms do not have kitchens. It is said that there is
When students first arrive, “social trauma is the biggest challenge,” Deas said. “We hear a lot about sleep issues.” To meet the needs of students, Deas has created a school-wide program that features counselors, a food pantry, and special procedures for dealing with students who may fall asleep during class. has developed a program.
“There’s a social part beyond education,” he said. “We also have to find ways to support families.”
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Extended stay hotels are often a last resort for low-income families looking for housing. More than 100,000 students nationwide were living in extended-stay hotels in 2022, according to the Department of Education, but officials say this is likely an underestimate. Local officials say children living in hotels are considered homeless under federal law, and about 40% of homeless students in some Atlanta-area counties live in this type of housing.
Additionally, rising rents, evictions, and reduced access to federal public housing are making extended-stay hotels a more frequent option for long-term stays. Family advocates and researchers who study homelessness say that, like other forms of homelessness, hotel living can cause or worsen physical and mental health problems in children. states.
In the Atlanta area, inspections of extended stay hotels revealed ventilation issues, insect infestations, mold and other health threats. Children living there may also experience or witness crime and gun violence. Observers said the increased use of extended-stay hotels is a red flag and reflects the lack of adequate affordable housing policy in the United States.
And the crisis is having a “lifelong impact,” said Sara Saadian of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The only way we can really address this shortage is if we have federal resources at scale. Let’s build more housing and close the rent and wage gap.”
Evictions often force families into hotels, where they can remain trapped. Joy Monroe, founder and CEO of the Single Parent Alliance and Resource Center (SPARC), a Metro nonprofit, said many landlords do not hold tenants accountable for eviction, even if they are not responsible for eviction. Even if they don’t have one, they say they refuse to rent to people with evictions on their credit history. In Atlanta, we have helped hundreds of families move from hotels to apartments and rental housing.
Advocates say Black women and other women of color are more likely to be evicted at extremely high rates and end up living in long-term hotels, often with their children in tow.
Some residents are said to be families fleeing domestic violence.
Sean Deese, principal of Dunea Elementary School in Stone Mountain, Georgia, said about 20 percent of Dunea students live in hotels. (Andy Miller/KFF Health News)
Hotels often do not require deposits, application fees, or background checks, providing immediate relief to families seeking shelter. According to Highland Group, a research firm focused on the hotel sector, although there are luxury hotels, the average cost of an economy class extended stay room was $56.68 per night in the first three months of 2024. Ta. That’s more than $1,700 per month.
The rooms also offer respite from other forms of homelessness, such as sleeping in cars or tents, but hotels are “not a place to raise a child,” said New Life Community, which helps families in South DeKalb.・Michael Bryant, CEO of the Alliance, said: , part of metro Atlanta, from your hotel to your home.
Children living in hotels often have delayed vaccinations and can end up in the emergency room due to delays in care, says Phoenix pediatrician, who is currently homeless or will become homeless. said Gary Kirkilas, who works with at-risk children, teens and families. . About 75 percent of the children in unstable housing he sees have at least one developmental delay, and others experience significant emotional and behavioral problems.
Tanazia Scott, who has been moving between two extended-stay hotels for several months, said her three children were “depressed and upset” about living in hotels.
The eviction forced Cassandra Norman, 58, and her two daughters to travel for several months, staying in hotels in the Atlanta area. For three months, they slept in their car outside a convenience store. Norman’s second daughter, Kazuri Taylor, 19, said, “Doing homework in the car or at a hotel is difficult.”
Some hotels don’t allow children to play outdoors in their parking lots, which advocates say leads to additional stress. 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.”
There are other issues as well. More than a dozen students from Dunea Elementary School live in an extended-stay facility called the Haven Hotel. DeKalb County Law Enforcement Division said in August that the hotel “failed to maintain minimum life safety standards.” Cockroaches and spiders live in rooms and hallways, according to state sanitary inspection reports. Residents said they were charged $1 for each roll of toilet paper.
Repeated attempts to contact the hotel’s owner and manager for comment were unsuccessful.
“No one is talking about this family,” said Sue Sullivan, an Atlanta community activist and volunteer with the Motels to Home Coalition. She brings toys, book bags, food, and toiletries with her on hotel visits.
A public health inspection in February at another DeKalb County hotel found potential health threats, including poor ventilation, insect infestation and mold in some rooms. Two people were shot and killed there in May.
Charles Moore, director of the Urban Health Initiative at Emory University School of Medicine, said children who witness violence can develop anxiety, depression and other disorders. “They can feel the emotional aftershocks,” said Moore, who visited a hotel in the Atlanta area.
But Terry Lewinson, an associate professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, said that given the lack of affordable housing, lack of federal protections for renters nationwide and lack of places to go, He said the closure of hotels could be a blow to families. . Extended-stay hotels “offer a low-barrier option for families who don’t have other options,” she said.
To alleviate the housing crisis, county officials and nonprofit organizations across the country have creatively filled the gap. In the Seattle area, for example, King County officials bought hotels and converted them into affordable housing, said Mark Skinner of the Highland Group.
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In metro Atlanta, SPARC and the local United Way’s Motel to Home offer funding to help people move into apartments.
In DeKalb County, where Dunea Elementary School is located, more than a third of the 1,300 homeless students are living in hotels, according to Commissioner Ted Terry.
“I hope we can rescue the children,” he said. “It’s not a safe environment for them.”
Activists seeking to help people living in hotels have proposed building more affordable housing and stronger protections for renters against eviction. The federal government has failed to invest in the repairs needed to maintain current public housing, and a 25-year-old law effectively prohibits the construction of new public housing.
Taylor Shelton, an associate professor of geosciences at Georgia State University whose research focuses on social inequality and urban space, said tenant evictions in Georgia are “very quick, easy, and inexpensive. ”. “The playing field has tilted heavily in favor of landowners.”
In situations like this, it’s difficult to break the cycle of poverty, said Jamie Rush, a senior staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Most parents would want their children to live in a safe and stable home,” Rush says. “You can’t budget to get out of poverty.”
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