Photo Courtesy of SVdP Georgia

ATLANTA—Krystal Woolf, a 39-year-old mother of three, felt she was “rushing against the clock” to find an apartment and leave motel life behind.  

“God, please help me and my children get out of this hotel,” she recalled her desperate prayer. “I just felt so broken.”  

In mid-August, the family moved out of the Clayton County motel in time for her daughter’s birthday. Walking into their new apartment opened a door to the stability they craved. Recently, she got a text of a photo of her daughter relaxing beside the apartment complex pool.  

“I feel accomplished. I feel like I didn’t let my kids down again,” she said. 

The Woolf family found stability after a year living in a motel with the help of St. Vincent de Paul Georgia’s Motel to Home initiative.  

The statewide agency on Aug. 11 celebrated the 1,000th family that moved into long-term housing. The most recent number of families served is 1,030.  

Barriers to apartment living 

The program, which began in 2020, targets the financial trap faced by motel residents to both save upfront costs for a future apartment while paying the high cost for their current room. The program bridges the financial gap by paying up to $2,000 in fees, security deposits, and first month’s rent to the future landlord. 

Thousands of people in Georgia rely on these extended-stay motels for housing. The Georgia State University Center on Health and Homelessness in January reported 4,600 people living in “high-cost, low-quality housing” in DeKalb County alone.  

Researchers went door-to-door to conduct surveys at 42 hotels. The results showed nearly half of the residents reported they couldn’t afford a deposit to get out of the motels and into stable housing. 

What started as a 13-family pilot program at St. Vincent de Paul Georgia has now served families in 40 counties. According to the nonprofit, the program’s long-term results show 88% of participating families remaining housed after 12 months. 

Heidi Eveleigh, the Motel to Home program manager, said from small beginnings the program has had a tremendous impact on family life. 

“We are always trying to meet the needs of the family,” she said.  

The need is not slowing down. In August alone, some 650 applications were received for financial support, she said. However, the program’s limit is about 250 families a month, she said. “We just want the families comfortable, and in a house, so it feels like a home.” 

Before entering the program, families in the program pay an average of $2,189 per month for an extended-stay motel, compared with an average monthly rent of $1,302 once housed, according to St. Vincent de Paul Georgia.  

Closing the gap for the Woolf family 

The Woolf family faced unexpected hardship to end up at the motel. Financial scams and the high upfront costs of traditional housing kept them there.  

The family spent a year living in a cramped motel room in Clayton County with two queen beds and a small kitchen. The cost of the extra kitchen space raised the monthly bill to $1,660 to keep a roof over their heads, on top of transportation bills, food and other expenses for raising children. 

Saving the more than $2,500 to cover upfront apartment move-in fees was too much of a reach, said Woolf. She works two jobs, found a larger three-bedroom apartment for her family where she could afford the $1,300 monthly rent, but the financial gap for those move-in fees was too wide.  

A last-resort Google search took her to St. Vincent de Paul Georgia. After working with the case manager, she heard the welcome news that the fees would be covered.  

“I just needed that little helping hand. I needed that helping hand, and they were a helping hand, and I am most grateful,” she said. “I was ecstatic, of course. All I could do was just be happy and cry and thank God.”