- Over 100,000 people in the state have applied for the Georgia Housing Choice voucher.
- Valdosta's housing demand is 4 to 5 times greater than the supply.
- Watch the video to see how one Valdosta woman is in urgent need of the voucher.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
The Georgia Housing Choice voucher will help 13,000...
But over 125,000 residents have applied for that assistance.
I'm Malia Thomas, in Valdosta, and I'm here at the Partnership to End Homelessness to see how much help is needed in the Azalea City.
"I slept outside in the cold. I slept outside in the rain with a box over my head."
This is Miranda Berrian. I met her at the Partnership.
She tells me she has been going through a hard time lately.
Accident left the lower half of her face disfigured.
She's staying with her son, but the arrangement won't be lasting long.
"I did try to get into a shelter, but the shelter didn't have no space. So you go to a shelter and they don't have any space. Valdosta don't have that many shelters."
I also spoke with Partnership's executive director Dr. Ronnie Mathis while he was working to find housing for several residents.
He tells me demand for housing far exceeds Valdosta's options.
"Our phone log says that we have an average between 4,000 and 5,000 calls per month looking for help."
"So, that's about 1,000 calls a week?"
"Yup."
I checked with Valdosta Housing Authority and Housing and Urban Development for Georgia.
In simple terms, demand is 4 to 5 times greater than supply right now.
That only includes requests the Partnership gets.
This doesn't account for other housing assistance agencies like LAMP.
Dr. Mathis tells me the gravity of the situation is...
"a tremendously bad place. We're in a bad place because there is no funding but then what makes its bad is we don't have affordable AND decent housing."
The Georgia Department of Community Affairs has awarded the Valdosta Housing Authority $1 million to bring an affordable housing complex to the city.
In Valdosta, I'm Malia Thomas, ABC27.
