Expos Aim To Spur Georgia Business, Housing Industries

Navigating a tough economy in the world of small business and the housing industry is the focus of a series of expos running through Saturday.

The events are designed as a type of one-stop shopping for entrepreneurs, realtors and bankers, among others. Organized by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the aim is to connect those groups with the latest information and tools from the local, state, and federal levels.

Yancey Gulley is with Athens Technical College, one of several schools hosting the expos:

"There will be booths from small business, government to government assistance, and housing assistance. And then throughout the day, we’ll have workshops going on as well."

Athens Tech, along with tech schools in Atlanta and Calhoun are staging expos Saturday from 9-to-5. Events are wrapping-up today in Warner Robins, Hinesville, and Albany.

Rainwater Harvesting Guidelines Considered

Changes to Georgia's water policy could mean rainwater may become popular for use in toilets.

The changes haven't been made final, but water conservation advocates are hopeful Georgia's Department of Community Affairs will approve a unified code for rainwater harvesting.

That water, collected from roof tops and other receptacles during rainstorms, could then be used in toilets or for watering plants, among other applications.

Unifying the code would make collecting rain a bit more difficult than just setting up a rain bucket outside. Harvesting requires an investment in equipment, including pumps, filters and hoses, says Dan Young.

Young works for Aqua irrigation based in Marietta.

"Typically on a homeowners rainwater harvesting system, you're looking at spending anywhere from 8,000 dollars to anywhere from 75,000-100,000 dollars."

That high dollar figure is for fitting large homes and commercial properties. Young, along with a national trade group, says when Georgia changes their policies on harvesting, and creates best practice guidelines, the prices of the equipment and labor will fall in the state.

Young estimates the average home could reduce water usage by a third with the proper equipment.

The DCA is expected to issue their final draft rules by this summer.

Over 75,000 homeless in Georgia: report

More than 75,000 people are homeless in Georgia at some time during the year, according to a first-ever statewide study of the problem released on Wednesday.

The report estimates that on any one day, 20,000 people are homeless in the state, with more than half living on the street.

The totals are likely much higher because the study uses the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development definition of homeless, which excludes people who are living with family or friends, those living in motels and migrant workers in dilapidated, unfit housing.

State officials say they hope to use the data gathered by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to appeal to lawmakers and private donors for funding for shelters and agencies that help homeless find jobs and places to live. The state's homeless shelters and other agencies don't have enough beds to put a roof over everyone's head, with 7,400 beds for individuals and 5,100 for families.

"This gives us the reality of where we are in this issue," Mike Beatty, commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, said during a news conference at Genesis House shelter in Atlanta. "It gives us the basis of where we're headed."

The state plans to conduct the study every year, he said.

The estimates are from surveys and street counts done in 23 counties across the state last year and this year. Kennesaw State University researchers plugged the numbers into a formula designed with U.S. Census data that predicts how many homeless people are in each county.

The numbers are similar to what HUD has estimated for Georgia, Kennesaw State researcher Jennifer Priestley said.

Not all states do such studies, making it difficult to get a national picture or how the Georgia numbers rank. About 750,000 homeless are in the U.S., according to the most recent national estimate from HUD released in 2007.

The study found that the vast majority of the homeless in Georgia are under the age of 54 and hundreds of them are children. According to the Georgia Department of Education, more than 22,000 children in the state's public schools were homeless last school year. That number includes children living on relatives' couches and in motels.

The Georgia study also found that homelessness affects communities of all sizes across the state and not just major metropolitan areas.

"There are homeless people in rural areas of Georgia, it just may look different," said Lindsey Stillman, the lead author on the report. "It's less likely you would see a homeless person on the corner in a rural area than in an urban area. They are living in cars or hidden in the woods."

Click here for more GPB News coverage of homelessness in Georgia.

(With The Associated Press)

City of Pendergrass tops in NE Ga for traffic fine revenue

The city of Pendergrass has collected the most traffic fine revenue and seized assets-per-resident in the northeast Georgia region for the second straight year. The Athens Banner-Herald details a report that shows the Pendergrass police department took-in nearly 560-thousand dollars in 2006, for a town of 491 residents. The monetary amount more than covers the department budget of 312-thousand dollars. Next in the rankings—the Arcade police department, followed by the Madison County Sheriff’s office, and the Jefferson police department, ranking 4th. The data comes from a report complied by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

Homeless to get $7 M in state aid

The State of Georgia is giving over $7 million dollars in state and federal funds to help Georgia's homeless. Officials at the Department of Community Affairs say 181 agencies throughout the state will get the funds.

The monies are to support running and development costs, and will cover a wide range of related housing support services.

Don Watt, director of the DCA's office of housing and special initiatives says the aid,

..."will fund both operations and services of emergency shelters and transitional housing facilities."

10 homeless and health care organizations in Columbus, Americus and Butler will get over 300,000 dollars of the state and federal assistance.

In Columbus, Kim Elise Jenkins of the Open Door Community House says the aid will go for homeless women:

“The money that we receive from the Department of Community Affairs and the Department of Housing and Urban Development all go to help the case management program and the DCA money specifically goes to help us provide housing, food and supportive services for homeless women who live with us here in our transitional facility.”

Jenkins says their ultimate goal is to provide the women with sustainable income and permanent housing.