Renter’s rights advocate Monica DeLancy, founder and director of We Thrive in Riverside Renters Association, has been highlighting specific evictions that are happening in Cobb County this winter.

Here is her latest email about the eviction of a family with children:

Last night I had to assist another family being evicted from a Cobb County apartment.
This family had 3 children.

One child attends Sanders Elementary and one child attends Garrett Middle School.

The mother stated to me that she was told in July 2021 at the court hearing that they would be rescheduled for another court date.

This email is to request that if we truly care about the future of our children then we will start by asking for all evictions to be halted because of the following reasons:

1. Evictions need to be halted because the virus is still a public health concern
2. The  rental assistance agencies states it’s a back log to process applications
3. It is the winter time. Must we put out children out in the cold with their personal items out on the sidewalk?

Yes, Cobb County might have had no evictions last year and yes they have put out over $40 million in rental assistance.

Remember, Cobb County was wall-to-wall in Magistrate Court prior to 2020 with evictions and the numbers are trending to those levels again.

This is the second eviction I have witnessed in 7 days of a woman of color with children being evicted from homes and we expect for those children to go to school ready to learn.

And the family stated last night they did receive assistance in 2020 , when they applied in 2021 they could not get a clear answer from the agency nor their apartment complex which changed management.

Another generation was lost last night.

We will have children attending schools from 40 percent of the households whose parents don’t know anything about redistricting, CRT, cityhood, zoning.

The parents can’t start planning for life after high school.

The children will wander the halls if they are lucky enough to make it to graduation. 

If you care about our future please contact our elected officials to request that evictions be halted. Please ask our apartment complexes businesses to stop evicting our families.

Please ask all elected officials to put together a clear housing plan that meets the needs of our families who we know are the backbone of our communities.

Cobb County Commissioners

Chairwoman Lisa Cupid Lisa.cupid@cobbcounty.org

Monique Sheffield Monique.sheffield@cobbcounty.org

Joann Birrell Joann.birrell@cobbcounty.org

Keli Gambrill Keli.gambrill@cobbcounty.org

Jerica Richardson jerica.richardson@cobbcounty.org

Thank you

Monica DeLancy