Homeless Shelter Could Become Police, Fire Building

MIDTOWN, GA -- The City of Atlanta has voted to approve a study to determine whether a controversial homeless shelter in Midtown could be re-purposed to serve the city’s public safety needs.

In a 13-1 vote, the Atlanta City Council approved a feasibility study for converting the Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter into a joint police and fire department operations facility, Atlanta Business Chronicle reports. The lone dissenting vote belonged to Councilwoman Felicia Moore.

Although the study can proceed, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled last month that no eviction proceedings against the shelter can take place until it is determined whether the city illegally sold the building out of foreclosure.

The court also ruled that the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, which has operated the shelter for about 15 years, has the right to a jury trial to resolve the matter.

The task force defaulted on a $900,000 loan in 2010 and has been staving off eviction proceedings ever since.

Lawyers for the task force argue that powerful business interests have conspired to stifle the flow of donations to bankrupt the shelter and drive the homeless from the area, WABE reported in June.

In August, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed sought to seize the shelter through the use of eminent domain after the CDC informed him that the shelter was the source of a nationwide tuberculosis outbreak.