Athens Area Shelter Resources
Here’s where to find organizations and agencies in Clarke, Oconee, and Oglethorpe Counties who are working to provide housing and shelter for all.
Governmental Resources:
Athens Area Homeless Shelter
- Temporary housing services for families with dependent children. The Athens Area Homeless Shelter offers transitional housing for women with children, rapid rehousing and homelessness prevention for those on their way to self-sufficiency, an employment support services program, and financial literacy education. Their contact info and frequently asked questions can be found here.
Athens Area VA Clinic
- The Athens Veterans Affairs clinic offers a wide range of aid to veterans. One of these programs is homelessness prevention. For more information, click here.
Athens Housing Authority
- The Athens Housing Authority offers affordable rental housing options for low-to-moderate income families in Athens-Clarke County. Families may choose a rent based on 30 percent of their adjusted annual income or a “flat” rent based on private market rents for similar housing in the community. For more information on renting with AHA, click here. AHA also offers homeownership opportunities for families with incomes between 60% and 80% of Athens-Clarke County area median income), as well as down payment assistance for families earning 80%-115% of ACC Area Median Income. To learn more about home ownership assistance, click here.
Housing Counseling
- The Athens Housing Authority General website includes local resources for housing counseling, credit counseling for prospective homeowners, mortgage counseling, homebuyer delinquency and predatory lending counseling, foreclosure prevention assistance, reverse mortgage counseling, home maintenance and financial management for new homeowners, rental housing counseling, and fair housing counseling. To learn more, click here.
Private-Sector Enterprises:
Athens Area Habitat for Humanity
- Here at Athens Area Habitat for Humanity we have four shelter assistance programs – Habitat Homes, ReNew Athens, EHARP, and Brush with Kindness.
- Habitat Homes is a home purchase program that allows for families in the community who have income, but who are unable to qualify for commercial mortgages, to become homeowners by partnering with AAHFH, including volunteering on the build sites and in the ReStores.
- ReNew Athens is a neighborhood revitalization program that creates affordable housing options for low-income and homeless individuals through the environmentally conscious renovation of existing multifamily units. These homes provide stability for renters who are not yet financially able to quality for the home ownership program.
- With the help of EHARP (the Emergency Handicap Access Ramp Program), low-income homeowners with disabilities in Clarke County are able to remain in their own homes by having entrances modified to suit their needs.
- Through the Brush with Kindness program, we assist in smaller-scale critical home repairs for low-income homeowners in Clarke County.
- We also have two ReStores! These facilities offer affordable furniture, appliances, clothing, and other everyday items at a discount while providing a much needed funding stream for home construction, renovation, and repair.
Athens Land Trust
- The Athens Land Trust offers affordable housing options to the Athens-Clarke County community. Their goal is to help people buy homes so that renting is not their only choice. For contact info, click here.
Advantage Behavioral Health Systems
- Advantage provides services to those experiencing homelessness due to psychosocial issues, including their Day Service Center, Street Outreach Program, and Hotel Voucher Program. For details on these services, click here. They also provide residential services to those in psychosocial rehabilitation such as transitional housing and housing support. To learn more about these programs, click here.
Project Safe
- Project Safe is an organization who is leading the fight to end domestic violence through prevention and educational services, crisis intervention, and advocacy work in the community. This organization also offers transitional housing for those effected by domestic violence. For more information, click here.
Faith Organizations:
ACTION, Inc.
- ACTION serves the hungry, homeless and working poor in the Clarke County area through various services, including serving breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday and a sack meal on the weekends as well as legal services, adult eduction/GED prep, Veterans assistance, counseling, etc. For more information, click here.
Bigger Vision of Athens
- Bigger Vision of Athens provides overnight housing for those in need. They offer a safe environment, showers, food, clothing, and more. You have to be 18 years or older to be eligible. For more information about what they offer, click here. For contact information, click here.
Family Promise
- Provides shelter, food, and support for families for up to 90 days. For contact information, click here.
Salvation Army of Athens
- The Salvation Army provides housing and feeding services for those in need. For more information, click here.
The Sparrow’s Nest
- The Sparrow’s Nest, a Christian ministry center, welcomes individuals in need to come have a meal or a bag of groceries, offers showers and laundry facilities for the homeless, clothing, and ministry services for the community. For contact info, click here.
Food Banks:
The Ark
- Helps the surrounding community members live comfortably during times of economic hardship. More information can be found here.
Athens Area Emergency Food Bank
- The purpose of the AAEFB is to provide a week’s supply of food for families who are in need pending a referral from an approved agency.
Food Bank of Northeast Georgia
- The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia strives to end hunger while on their way to their overall goal of alleviating poverty. More information can be found here.
Image © Habitat for Humanity International/Ezra Millstein
