Gwinnett County’s long-shuttered homeless shelter has new management

“We are very excited to see the Latin American Association and what they’re going to bring to the community,” Fleming said. “I think they have a lot to offer to residents of all colors.”

The United Way of Greater Atlanta has run both facilities for three years, initially through HomeFirst Gwinnett, a subsidiary organization. The United Way began directly managing the facilities more than a year ago, after HomeFirst’s executive director left to head up Gwinnett County’s new housing division.

The shelter hosts women and children with a maximum capacity of 20 people. It has been closed since Christmas of 2022, when a freeze burst pipes and caused flooding all over metro Atlanta, including the church. Although the church was insured, the United Way of Greater Atlanta could not raise enough money to staff the shuttered shelter because donors like to see what they are funding, said Protip Biswas, vice president of homelessness.

The United Way is mostly known for raising money for partner nonprofits.

“Direct service is not our forte,” Biswas said. “It’s not what we want to do.”

The Latin American Association so far plans to operate the shelter and assessment center much the same way that HomeFirst did, with the addition of “wraparound services” including workforce development, English lessons, immigration services and support for aspiring entrepreneurs.

The Norcross area, where the shelter is located, is known for its community of immigrants from all over the world. The Latin American Association has worked with the city of Atlanta to house homeless immigrants that arrive at the airport or Greyhound bus station, CEO Santiago Marquez said. The organization has Spanish-speaking staff and works with other organizations to translate other languages, Marquez said, recalling their efforts a few months ago to find housing for 90 men from Senegal.

Marquez said he hopes to raise more money to reopen the shelter once the Latin American Association establishes its presence at the assessment center.

“Right now, we don’t have a reputation in the community for doing that kind of work,” he said.

Gwinnett County’s contribution is the balance of a previous $500,000 award to the United Way, transferring the subsidy to the Latin American Association for the second half of the year. The county is also subsidizing a Lawrenceville shelter for men and couples without children, but it has not opened yet. The nonprofit Impact46 will run that shelter.

County officials have estimated thousands of people in Gwinnett are homeless or precariously housed, including those who couch surf.

While The Resting Spot was closed in 2023, the United Way paid for more than 50 families to stay at hotels or motels, Biswas said. It cost less and many families preferred the hotels to a shelter, he said.

“The demand and the need for beds is a lot, lot more,” he said. “Probably four or five times what we could do. ...With housing prices being so high and the lack of affordable housing, the demand for shelter is much higher than any one shelter could address.”