Advocates condemn Atlanta's homeless camp sweeps, demand housing solutions
Pryor Street homeless camp clearing
Just months after a man was killed during a homeless camp sweep in Atlanta, city crews cleared another camp on Monday just blocks from police headquarters. The tent camp was right near Pryor Street, just under where Interstates 20 and 75/85 all meet.
ATLANTA - Just months after a man was killed during a homeless camp sweep in Atlanta, city crews cleared another camp on Monday just blocks from police headquarters.
The tent camp was right near Pryor Street, just under where Interstates 20, 75, and 85 all meet in Atlanta's Mechanicsville neighborhood.
What we know:
Crews spent most of Monday clearing tents near the I-75 and I-85 corridors as outreach teams worked to help those with nowhere to go, but some advocates are frustrated that clearing operations like this are even happening after a death in one earlier this year.
FOX 5 spoke to several residents who said they knew it was coming. One woman said they were told last month that crews would clear the camp on Monday.
She says she was offered a bed in a shelter after being homeless for two months, and she is optimistic about what is ahead.
"I'm not sad, I would love to be in a place to stay," she said. "I'm the type of person who wants to have a place to stay."
Officials say the closure is in response to safety issues. They say the clearing follows new safety recommendations from a task force created after Cornelius Taylor’s death in January. Investigators say a public works truck hit Taylor while he slept in a tent as crews cleared a different camp.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said the encampment poses serious health and safety risks.
What they're saying:
Officials say the closure follows recommendations of the 2025 Task Force on Homelessness Response, which said the camp posed serious health and safety risks.
"Living in these encampments is not safe for the people living there, the surrounding communities or the public at large. They pose serious health, life and safety risks that we have a moral obligation to address. Following the newly created recommendations from our taskforce, and after weeks of outreach, our neighbors will be relocated to safe and secure housing that will put them on the road to self-sufficiency," Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement.
The other side:
The city had previously placed signage near the area informing residents nearby about the operation.
"We found out on Friday that the sweeps are beginning again, and the task force has come up with a plan that resembles the old plan," said Tim Franzen with Justice for Cornelius Taylor Coalition."
Franzen’s group held a news conference Monday morning to condemn the sweep.
"People keep asking, 'Why do these encampments keep cropping up’ because there is no decent answer," one woman said.
Critics dispute that and say the sweeps are cruel and ineffective. They say it creates a vicious cycle where people end up in shelters then back on the street.
"We are asking for housing first," one woman said.
Besides making sure better housing services are provided, the coalition is calling on the city to stop encampment sweeps all together.
On the same day as the operation, activists gathered on Old Wheat Street to demand the city make changes to how it clears out camps.
The press conference was held in the same area where Cornelius Taylor was killed on Jan. 16 when Atlanta Public Works crews were cleaning out a homeless encampment near the King Center.
Atlanta police released an incident report from the day of Taylor's death, suggesting he died of an overdose. But attorneys for Taylor's family say his autopsy by the medical examiner showed he died from major injuries from heavy machinery.
After Taylor's death, the city temporarily paused sweeps and established the 2025 Task Force.
Activists say the task force instead "revealed itself as more of the same" and decided to continue the same sweeps as the one Taylor was killed in.
"There’s still time for the Mayor to lead with compassion," said Alison Johnson, Executive Director of the Housing Justice League. "We need permanent housing solutions — not performative policy and endless cycles of displacement."
The activists are demanding a moratorium on encampment sweeps and adopt what they are calling "a real Housing First approach."
The Source: Information for this story came from a release from the City of Atlanta and the family of Cornelius Taylor. Additional information came from previous FOX 5 reports.