Moving Single Parent Families from Extended-Stay Motels into Homes of Their Own, with Joy Monroe, Single Parent Alliance and Resource Center (SPARC) (Good2Give Podcast, Episode 23)
In this episode of the Good2Give Podcast, host DePriest Waddy, CEO of The Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia, and Norma Marquez, Director of Development for CFNEG, talk with Joy Monroe, founder and CEO of the Single Parent Alliance & Resource Center (SPARC). Their subject is Project 365, SPARC’s campaign to move families out of extended-stay motels and into permanent housing. SPARC serves single parents across the 13-county metro Atlanta region. Project 365 grew out of its Motel to Home program and a first-in-the-nation survey of families and children living in extended-stay hotels, which SPARC conducted in DeKalb County with Georgia State University.
Joy explains why these families are homeless even though most of them work. The DeKalb survey estimated 714 households with children living in the county’s extended-stay hotels. Surveyed households averaged four people in a room of about 200 square feet, spending 77% of their income on that room. With weekly rates often running $400 to $600, nothing is left to save for a security deposit and first month’s rent. Joy also describes what changes when a family gets the keys to an apartment: a mother planning her first home-cooked meal, children asking whether they will have their own room, and a young graduate in his cap and gown who no longer has to hide where he lives.
United Way of Greater Atlanta is matching the first $250,000 raised for Project 365, which brings the donor cost of moving one family to $3,000. SPARC aims to move 100 families out of motels by the end of the year while it carries out the same survey in Gwinnett County. After placement, families build at least $1,000 in emergency savings and work on their credit through what SPARC calls its HANDS approach, short for “housing and savings.” Between 88% and 92% of the more than 600 families SPARC has housed stay housed. SPARC also has a fund at the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia.
The Good2Give Podcast is presented by the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia. John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX, produce the show. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link.
Key Takeaways from this Episode
- In SPARC’s DeKalb County survey, more than 75% of families living in extended-stay motels had income from work, and nearly one in four included someone working multiple jobs. They are homeless, but they do not match the common picture of homelessness.
- Motel rooms often cost $400 to $600 a week, which is more than many apartment rents or mortgages. Families paying by the day pay even more.
- Families in the survey spent 77% of their income on the room. That leaves nothing to save for a security deposit and first month’s rent, and evictions and poor credit add further barriers.
- SPARC estimates that 714 households with children live in DeKalb’s extended-stay hotels. Nearly 60% of the families surveyed were headed by single mothers, and households averaged four people in one room of about 200 square feet, usually with no kitchen.
- United Way of Greater Atlanta is matching the first $250,000 raised for Project 365, so $3,000 in donations moves one family from a motel into an apartment. SPARC’s goal is 100 families by year end.
- SPARC’s aftercare helps housed families build at least $1,000 in emergency savings and improve their credit. Between 88% and 92% of the more than 600 families SPARC has housed stay housed.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
00:21 Introduction and welcome from host DePriest Waddy
00:45 Joy Monroe introduces SPARC and its programs
01:31 Project 365 and the Motel to Home program
01:49 The first-in-the-nation survey of families in DeKalb County extended-stay hotels
03:25 Why a motel room costs more than an apartment and traps families
05:12 Working families and a hidden form of homelessness
06:28 Survey findings on household size and single mothers
06:59 Raising children in a 200-square-foot room
08:26 What changes when a family moves into a home of its own
13:35 The United Way of Greater Atlanta match and the goal of 100 families
16:48 How Project 365 can end homelessness for one family at a time
17:59 Aftercare, emergency savings, and credit through the HANDS approach
19:38 How to connect with SPARC
Joy Monroe, Founder and CEO, Single Parent Alliance & Resource Center (SPARC)
Joy Monroe moved from New York to Atlanta with her sons and what she believed was a solid plan. She soon realized how much her support system back home had carried her as a single parent. In New York, cash payments were accepted for housing, but in Atlanta she needed a job before she could rent. While she looked for work, Joy and her sons lived in an extended-stay motel. On the morning they were scheduled to move into their new apartment, they were hit by a truck, which kept them in the motel another week.
That week showed Joy how precarious life is for families in extended-stay motels. Even a family with a solid plan can be trapped by one unexpected event. She also learned that the federal government classifies families living in motels as homeless, even though she had not felt homeless at the time. In 2001, she turned that experience into SPARC, which began as a support group in her living room.
Today SPARC serves single parents across the 13-county metro Atlanta region through programs in housing stability, economic mobility, and family well-being. Its Motel to Home program has moved more than 600 families from extended-stay motels into permanent housing. It covers barriers such as deposits and moving costs and follows each family with aftercare, and 88% to 92% of those families remain housed. Housed families can join the Financial Achievement Club, a matched savings program that helps them build emergency savings and improve their credit. SPARC also brings free afterschool programs to apartment complexes and hosts community events, including SPARC in the Park. Its research on families living in DeKalb County extended-stay hotels now guides Project 365, its campaign to move families out of motels every day of the year.
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The Good2Give Podcast celebrates the work of donors, nonprofits, and the causes they care about. DePriest Waddy is the show’s host, and the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia is the presenting sponsor.
The Good2Give Podcast is produced by John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. You can also find the show on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many others.
At the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia, everything they do centers around one purpose: improving the world through the power of philanthropy.
On a fundamental level, they do that through managing funds held in trust, donated by individuals, organizations, and businesses. Most of these funds are donor-advised funds, which are similar to savings accounts. These funds are pooled for investment purposes, and their income is used to make grants for a wide variety of charitable purposes.
But the Foundation’s goals extend far beyond managing funds. They desire to strengthen the communities they serve in Gwinnett, Northeast Georgia, and beyond by providing leadership, addressing community needs, and assisting individuals and organizations with their charitable giving.
Connect with CFNEG:
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