As the executive director of the Rocket Community Fund, Laura Grannemann finds innovative ways to provide support for homeowners and communities. On March 28, the Rocket Community Fund announced a combined $550,000 in new funding to protect Atlanta homeowners and renters from displacement.
Grannemann spoke with rolling out about the new funding and what the Rocket Community Fund learned in Detroit that helped them in Atlanta.
What should people know about this affordable housing development?
We had the pleasure last year of working with the Atlanta BeltLine partnership and the Partnership for Southern Equity to do a door-to-door outreach effort that reached out to both renters and homeowners, about 16,000 people altogether. What we learned was people are worried about displacement; they’re worried about making their next rent payment; they’re worried about making their next tax payment. These two investments are both towards paying off the property taxes of low-income seniors [and] supporting renters at risk of eviction with a lawyer alongside them during the process.
What were you all able to take from your work in Detroit to implement in Atlanta?
One thing that I can tell you is in Detroit, we reach out every year to about 60,000 Detroit residents, and as a result of that direct outreach, we better understand what people need, and that’s allowed us to tailor resources directly to that population. In fact, in Detroit, tax foreclosures are down by 95% over the last five years. We know that this type of outreach works when you put people at the center, and you really understand the problems and the disconnects in resources, and we hope that this is just the beginning of being able to tailor resources to Atlanta residents so that we can see the same wonderful outcomes.
What message do you want to send to the residents who may be worried?
Our goal is to ensure that everyone knows about the resources that are available to them… We are in this together. We’re a beautiful ecosystem, so reach out for support. It is there.
