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ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Just one mile from Atlanta’s stadium that will host tens of thousands of fans. world cup match<\/span> Dozens of people camped on sidewalks downtown this month, waiting for a homeless shelter to open.<\/p>\n Some people wore masks to cover their eyes and slept in sleeping bags to protect them from the afternoon sun. Some people were sitting on the sidewalk eating boxes of cereal. Shoes were scattered next to empty mini liquor bottles. A Jay-Z song was playing from the boombox. “This can’t be true, there has to be more.” <\/p>\n Last summer, the city of Atlanta announced an ambitious plan to eliminate encampments and other people sleeping on the streets downtown ahead of the 39-day soccer spectacle starting June 11th. The program, called “Downtown Rising,” reportedly housed nearly 500 people. But the scene outside the shelter on Pryor Street on a recent afternoon was a visceral reminder that Atlanta doesn’t reach everyone.<\/p>\n Atlanta is one of several cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico that are receiving attention as they host the world’s premier soccer tournament to address homelessness. The city of Seattle announced a housing construction push and said it was using the World Cup to measure progress. The city of Dallas said it is expanding its efforts to house homeless people downtown and is seeing success.<\/p>\n But an Associated Press investigation found that most of the 16 venues, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Houston, Toronto and Vancouver, British Columbia, are relying on existing programs to address homelessness, and most have not received any new funding related to the World Cup. <\/p>\n The proliferation of tent camps has worried city leaders for years. federal data showed double digit percentage increase<\/span> By 2023-2024, the number of homeless people in the United States will reach 770,000, but this number is acknowledged to be an undercount. This was followed by a slight decrease last year to 745,652.<\/p>\n Until now, many cities have treated the homeless as an eyesore that must be removed before major sporting or political events. <\/p>\n During last year’s Super Bowl, new orleans<\/span> Millions of dollars were spent to clear tent encampments near the Superdome and move homeless people into temporary storage. Towards 2024 paris olympics<\/span>The immigrants were bussed out of the city until the tournament was over. Chicago clears one of its largest camps ahead of 2024 Democratic National Convention<\/span>.<\/p>\n Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the day’s biggest headlines.\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThese events provide options for communities,\u201d said Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. \u201cThey can do the simple job of clearing people from encampments to prisons and other areas, or they can do more difficult work that benefits everyone in the community, whether they are housed or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Atlanta was removed from hosting the 1996 Olympics. Approximately 9,000 homeless people<\/span> to a newly established detention center. He gave others one-way bus tickets out of town and launched Operation Olympus, which detained hundreds of people to reduce crime.<\/p>\n But this time, the city decided to do things differently. <\/p>\n It aims to house 3,900 people citywide by next year, and has raised $185 million in state and city funds, corporate grants and other contributions toward a $235 million goal. According to the latest city statistics from last year, there are about 2,900 homeless people citywide, with about one-third living in encampments or on the streets.<\/p>\n “Unfortunately, there will always be homeless people on our streets,” said Katherine Vassell, CEO of Partners for Home, an organization tasked with developing and implementing Atlanta’s homelessness strategy. The goal is to “identify them and get them quickly evacuated to shelter, resources, services and ultimately housing.”<\/p>\n Downtown Rising helped Michael Sutton turn his life around. He was in foster care from an early age, moving from family to family. For much of the past decade, the 31-year-old has slept in train stations, parks, abandoned buildings and homeless shelters.<\/p>\n Since September, Sutton has lived in a one-bedroom apartment in suburban Atlanta and employed a caseworker. <\/p>\n “We all have tough days, but being able to come home, vent your thoughts and relax in your own home is so precious,” Sutton said. <\/p>\n But not everyone can be helped.<\/p>\n Some homeless people rebel against shelter rules, lack documentation to quickly move into permanent housing, have complex drug or mental health issues, or live nomadic lifestyles that make mobility difficult.<\/p>\n Tommy Elam said he’s been on numerous housing listings and nothing has happened, but it’s hard to find one. His cell phone has been stolen many times and he doesn’t have one now.<\/p>\n “They don’t know where I am,” Elam said. Elam had been homeless since early 2020 and had spent the past three months sleeping on the sidewalk near a homeless shelter on Pryor Street. The facility has been the latest home since a crackdown on encampments near the Georgia State Capitol.<\/p>\n Standing outside the downtown supportive housing center where he now lives, Willie Jackson, who spent years on the streets, said he knows people who have been helped by Downtown Rising’s efforts. But he’s skeptical that it will lead to lasting change after the World Cup or whether it will have a significant impact on downtown’s homeless problem. <\/p>\n \u201cLook around you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Two years ago, it was hard to miss the hundreds of tents pitched around Dallas City Hall.<\/p>\n But ahead of the World Cup, there were no tent campsites either downtown, where FIFA’s broadcast center is located, or in the nearby fan zone. The game will be played at a stadium in Dallas, just outside of Arlington.<\/p>\n Sarah Kahn, president and CEO of Housing Forward, which leads the fight against homelessness in Dallas and neighboring Collin County, said the $30 million campaign starting in 2024 has reduced the number of people sleeping on the streets downtown by 87% and placed about 2,000 people into permanent housing.<\/p>\n In March, an additional $28 million was allocated for the countywide expansion with the goal of providing housing for 1,100 people, officials said. Outreach personnel will be stationed daily within 400 meters of transport hubs, fan zones and FIFA broadcast centers to identify and provide services to people sleeping outdoors. <\/p>\n Elizabeth Jordan, founder of Human Impact, which helps the chronically homeless, hailed the initiative as “the single biggest change in Dallas’ homeless response.”<\/p>\n But she criticized Dallas police tactics, such as zip-tying and removing those who remained after clearing outposts. Dozens of people were taken from one campsite in May, but about 20 who remained were detained, she said. Dallas police said in a statement that such detentions of people who “violate prohibited camping laws” and refuse housing are “standard practice.” <\/p>\n Casey Coker, who spent years on the streets and in prison, said the treatment of the homeless has improved dramatically. Authorities used to “come in with bulldozers, take our things and throw them away,” said a 51-year-old woman who lost her birth certificate and social security card in the sweep.<\/p>\n In May, she was offered a subsidized one-bedroom apartment for a few hundred dollars a month. Coker felt safe for the first time.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can actually make something,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n On a vacant lot a few miles from Seattle’s stadium, workers were putting the finishing touches on 75 tiny homes last week.<\/p>\n The 70-square-foot units, equipped with beds, space heaters and air conditioning, are part of Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s ambitious plan to open 500 new shelter units by the start of the World Cup.<\/p>\n This is a goal she admitted she missed by a margin of 425 units. <\/p>\n “The World Cup … provided us with some good goalposts,” Wilson said in an interview with The Associated Press, adding that the city would open an additional 228 beds by the end of the summer.<\/p>\n “Publicating numbers has the advantage of encouraging people,” Wilson said, but missing it can set you up for failure, Wilson says. “So I really hope the message is… look, we’re making progress.”<\/p>\n Homeless advocates said they were not surprised that Wilson failed to meet such a lofty goal within six months of his election. What’s important is not the World Cup. It is important to contain people, they added. <\/p>\n “So far I’m glad nothing has happened,” said Bruce Draeger of the Ballard Community Task Force on Homelessness and Hunger, near where the tiny homes were built.<\/p>\n Chris Moore, who was camping with his wife between the sidewalk and railroad tracks just a few blocks from the stadium, said he hadn’t heard about the city’s housing plan. <\/p>\n Moore, who has been homeless for eight years, said a large encampment nearby has been cleared twice in the five months he’s been there. But a week before the first game, dozens of tents returned.<\/p>\n “With the World Cup coming up, you probably don’t want to have homeless people around,” he said.<\/p>\n In Inglewood, California, the site of the Los Angeles Area Stadium, the roads were squeaky clean and paved with fresh asphalt. Bright flowers bloomed in planters downtown and near the stadium.<\/p>\n “There are no homeless people in Inglewood,” Mayor James Butts told The Associated Press when asked about the city’s plans to provide housing for people living on the streets ahead of the World Cup. “Look at the numbers.”<\/p>\n In fact, compared to Los Angeles, which had 43,695 homeless people in a city of more than 3.8 million people, Inglewood had just under 400 homeless people last year, or about a third of the homeless population in a city of 100,000 people.<\/p>\n But St. Margaret’s Center, a nonprofit organization less than two miles (3.2 kilometers) from the stadium and just outside Inglewood’s city limits, was handing out dozens of boxed lunches to homeless people on a recent morning. <\/p>\n Carter Huguely, director of strategic partnerships for the Los Angeles County Department of Homeless Services and Housing, said three motel sites were secured ahead of the World Cup. “It’s not because there’s a game, it’s because there are homeless people.” The property, which includes Inglewood, has 54 to 104 rooms. The agency also maintains tens of thousands of evacuation beds.<\/p>\n In Canada, Toronto and Vancouver said they already rely on a wide range of services, including thousands of shelter beds, temporary housing rooms and support for people living on the streets. Vancouver also has a center where games will be broadcast. Both men said there were no plans to relocate homeless people before the game.<\/p>\n Still, there were sporadic reports by advocates of crackdowns targeting homeless people.<\/p>\n In Toronto, where Canada’s largest shelter system serves more than 8,500 people each night, advocates held a rally last month to decry what they say are transit police tactics that aggressively target homeless people at the city’s main train station. <\/p>\n Toronto’s Unhoused and Homeless Coalition says a survey of dozens of homeless people found some were forcibly removed from bathrooms and subjected to verbal abuse by transit police. In a statement to The Associated Press, the city did not directly address the complaint but said it does not “condone, ignore or condone discrimination or harassment.” <\/p>\n Hundreds of activists protested in Vancouver in April over increased security for the World Cup. The 2025 count put the number of homeless people at 2,715, including some in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighborhood near the stadium.<\/p>\n Last month, Harley Ransom said she witnessed aggressive tactics while resting in a tent at a downtown park where homeless people can stay overnight.<\/p>\n Nearby, Francesca Crane, who said the van she lived in with her pet rabbit was towed away, accused the city of “sweeping homeless people under the carpet to make FIFA look like a clean city without homeless people.”<\/p>\n “They’re pandering to people in other countries, but they’re trampling on people in their own cities and states,” she says. “What they’re doing is wrong.”<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Casey reported from Boston. Associated Press writers Manuel Valdez in Seattle; Claire Rush, Portland, Oregon. Jim Morris of Vancouver, British Columbia; Robert Gillies of Toronto; Heather Hollingsworth of Kansas City, Missouri; Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Jamie Ding in Los Angeles contributed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nAtlanta aims to house homeless people downtown<\/h2>\n
No more tents in Dallas<\/h2>\n
Tiny houses appear in Seattle<\/h2>\n
Inglewood prepares stadium area<\/h2>\n
Business as usual in Toronto and Vancouver<\/h2>\n