Centre For Family Resources briefs Marietta council on homelessness data and services

Centre For Family Resources told the Marietta City Council that enrollments in the county’s coordinated entry system rose in 2023 and that the agency’s programs aim to help families regain housing stability.

“We were established in 1960,” Melanie Kagan said as she opened a summary of the nonprofit’s services. Kagan described prevention, temporary non‑congregate shelter, employment and education supports, and a family pantry as core parts of the agency’s housing-stability approach.

Kagan gave the council county-level data through 2023. She reported 1,082 enrollments into coordinated entry during 2023, including 336 families and 725 individuals; she said about 65% of people in the family cohort were children. Kagan told councilmembers the agency was able to refer only about 7%–8% of enrolled people into housing programs due to limited housing availability and high rents.

Kagan described specific program features: the agency operates a non-emergency, non-congregate short-term shelter (30–60 days), provides rental assistance that can extend up to 12 months with tapering as household income rises, runs employment and education services through a contract with CobbWorks, and offers a savings-incentive program that matches savings dollar-for-dollar up to $600 in partnership with United Way.

Kagan said the agency administers the Cobb Homeless Alliance as the collaborative applicant for the Continuum of Care and submits the local HUD application that brings “about $3,000,000 into the county specifically for housing services.” She described the HMIS (homeless management information system) and point-in-time and housing inventory counts used to report to HUD.

On outreach and point-in-time counting, Kagan reported the team conducted about 283 surveys or observations during the recent county count — roughly 170 surveys where interview data were collected and other entries logged as observations because inclement weather or other factors prevented interviews. She estimated the county’s unsheltered total at about 300–350 people and said roughly half of that number were in Marietta, based on outreach patterns and law-enforcement coordinates.

Councilmembers asked about the definition of chronic homelessness and about program pathways after short-term shelter. Kagan described chronic homelessness as a specific HUD definition involving long-term or repeated episodes of homelessness; she characterized most people the agency serves as situationally or temporarily homeless and said about 60% of households leaving shelter are placed into some form of assistance while roughly 40% return to instability.

Public commenters later echoed concerns about homelessness, local encampments, panhandling and blight; one commenter urged stronger enforcement and suggested higher taxes on persistently blighted properties. Another resident raised sidewalk and pedestrian-safety concerns under I‑75 near Roswell Road. The presentation closed after a brief question-and-answer period.