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Roswell orders Economy Hotel vacated after safety inspection; city arranges rehousing support
Summary
Roswell city officials said life-safety and structural problems discovered during a human-trafficking–linked investigation prompted an order to vacate the Economy Hotel; the city and partners are providing intake, transportation and temporary housing, and have given $25,000 to the Drake House.
A city official told the Roswell City Council that the Economy Hotel must be vacated because inspection teams found "very, very serious structural issues and that it's compromised." The city began door-to-door notifications, posted bilingual notices, and planned to complete the vacate operation by Saturday (date not specified).
The decision followed a recent human-trafficking investigation that led to arrests and prompted deeper scrutiny of the hotel, the city official said. "As a result of that, it led to, some further, ability to investigate the hotel, that led to a number of our teams, uncovering some life safety, health, building issues that, really place, residents in or the occupants in peril," the city official said.
Why it matters: The building housed families and individuals, including children and people with special needs, and the city said the evacuation would require coordinated sheltering, transport and social services. The city described a multiagency response with municipal staff, Fulton County emergency management and local nonprofits providing intake and placement services.
City actions and partner roles The city said it developed and began executing an evacuation plan the week after the trafficking arrests and inspection findings. Staff made person-to-person contacts and placed notices on doors in English and Spanish to inform occupants of the need to vacate and available resources. The city said it provided $25,000 to the Drake House to help with housing and moving expenses for affected residents.
Bob Bridal, described by the city as a longtime Roswell resident who previously served as a city administrator and Fulton County manager, said the response had been "an all hands on deck situation" and praised coordination among the police department, fire department, code enforcement, Fulton County and local nonprofits. "It's been a great operation," Bridal said.
Fulton County Emergency Management and Drake House intake City officials said a Fulton County Emergency Management trailer is operating as an intake center, staffed by representatives from the Drake House and others. The intake site collects needs assessments and arranges services, including transportation and placement into housing, officials said.
Fire-department representative Bradley provided assistance numbers. As of his report, the operation had received approximately 80 requests for assistance and completed 66 of those placements. "We received 80 of those as of yesterday ... 66 have been completed," Bradley said, adding that the situation remains fluid and staff are triaging needs to prioritize the most immediate cases.
Discussion vs. formal action The transcript records the city's operational direction to vacate the hotel and to provide rehousing support; it does not record a formal vote or ordinance. The reported items are actions taken by city staff and partner agencies rather than council-adopted legislation.
Next steps and context The city official said efforts will continue to address human trafficking and substandard housing in Roswell and thanked residents who offered support. Officials did not provide a final count of displaced individuals, a specific return timeline for the building, or a date for any public hearing about the property; those details were not specified in the meeting remarks.
