ATLANTA (AP) — Last year, Sechita McNair and her three children were evicted from apartment in a rapidly gentrifying area of Atlanta.
For many families, losing their home means change of schooltoo much.
Federal law protects evicted families by allowing them to remain in their schools even if they leave the area. But once McNair and her sons find housing in the Atlanta suburb of Jonesboro, that protection will only last until the end of the school year. She was determined to find housing in her old neighborhood before school resumed so that her sons could have the stability and resources to remain in their old schools.
Finding a “semi-affordable” apartment in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward from a landlord who was renting to a single mother with a history of another eviction proved nearly impossible.
Last school year and summer, McNair and her children commuted back and forth between Jonesboro and their lives in Atlanta. When her new car was repossessed and she couldn't afford to fix her old van, they took public transport – a trip that sometimes took almost two hours.
The family's Jonesboro apartment is located in a neighborhood of brick colonial homes and manicured lawns. McNair understands this is some families' dream, but not hers.
McNair wants her children to go to well-resourced schools. Atlanta spends about $20,000 per student per year, $7,000 more than Jonesborough County. More money in schools means smaller classes and more psychologists, counselors and other support.
She also wants to live in a city with the same resources as Atlanta. She sees opportunities in libraries, e-scooters, bike paths, hospitals, rental agencies, Buy Nothing groups and food pantries.
McNair, an unemployed film industry veteran, drove overtime for Uber and borrowed money, eventually securing a rental in the desired Atlanta area. She achieved her goal: her children could return to the same schools.
For a while, she wasn't sure she felt safe giving up the home she was renting in Jonesboro. First, she wasn't even sure it was safe to spend the night in an apartment in Atlanta. The front door looked like it had been broken into, it needed more smoke detectors, and the refrigerator and oven didn't work.
But paying rent for two houses is expensive. Unable to pay her rent in Jonesboro, she prepares to leave the house before the landlord sends people to haul her belongings to the curb.
She promised herself that she would never let this happen to her children.
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This is a photo documentary contributed by AP photo editors.
