Judge Orders Task Force Out of Peachtree-Pine

The homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine streets will soon shut its doors.

That’s what Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall said on Friday as he ordered the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless to relinquish control of the controversial Midtown shelter.

Do you think this shelter should close?

In this Atlanta-Journal Constitution report, Schwall said he had protected the 435-bed shelter long enough. The shelter has struggled for years to stay open, in part because it doesn't raise enough money to cover the cost of operations. The shelter owes the city of Atlanta several hundred thousand dollars for water and sewer service. 

On Friday, Schwall gave the task force’s founders until Feb. 15 to vacate the property and ordered the shelter closed by the last day of August. In the meantime, he transferred control of the shelter to the United Way until all the men, as many as 600 of them, can be housed elsewhere.

This would appear to be welcomed news to many Midtown residents. In October, the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance wrote on its website, "From the very start Peachtree-Pine has generated tremendous problems for the surrounding community, and at every step of the way they have balked at community feedback with the attitude that they could never go wrong with their cause."

Friday evening, Jay Tribby, the chief of staff to Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall, sent an email to District 2 neighborhood presidents and NPU chairs. Wrote Tribby:

“As you may have already heard, just a few hours ago Judge Craig Schwall ordered the closure of the Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter. The current management was ordered to vacate the property by Feb 15 and the property as as a whole was ordered to close by Aug 31. The transition of the property and the futures of those who have come to call Peachtree-Pine "home" (in spite of its official status as an emergency overnight shelter) will be managed by the United Way.

"Many of you have attended meetings with Kwanza in anticipation of today's decision, not knowing whether the day would come that the hundreds of homeless individuals who call the shelter "home" would be given a new lease on life and actually be connected to the services they need to rebuild their lives. Thanks to Judge Schwall's decision, the residents of Peachtree-Pine are closer than ever to receiving the assistance they need. We will be in touch shortly re next steps.”

Are you worried about the homeless people who live there and where they will go?

Do you think the shelter has been a nuisance in the community? Let us know in the comment box below.