Residents of a neighborhood in Georgia have blasted a transit program meant to help homeless people, claiming police are bussing them to a nearby supermarket late at night.
Atlanta has launched a series of initiatives over the years to prevent people experiencing homelessness from sleeping on the trains overnight.
The Atlanta Police Department has attempted to curb the problem by bussing people sleeping on the trains near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to other locations in the city on a free 'Hope Shuttle.'
However, residents have claimed that the program is spreading the problem instead of solving homelessness and resulting in increased encampments in the area.
One woman who lives near a bus stop told local ABC affiliate WSB-TV that she has seen the shuttles drop people off late at night in front of a Kroger near Metropolitan Parkway.
She described an uptick in activity since the World Cup and shared video footage of the shuttles arriving multiple times a night between 1.30 and 2am.
'At the end of the day, it's tainting and corrupting a whole other neighborhood that needs help in itself,' she said.
'Take them somewhere, get them some help. Don't just drop them off.'
Residents in an Atlanta neighborhood have said they see shuttle buses carrying unhoused individuals and dropping them off with nowhere to go in the middle of the night
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport told WSB that the initiative was called Hope Shuttle and was designed to get people sleeping off the trains to locations throughout the city for free.
The Atlanta Police Department said in a statement that they offer individuals free transportation and support services through a shuttle service.
'The area near Cleveland Avenue and Metropolitan Parkway is the closest well-lit location within the City of Atlanta to the airport and is located near a MARTA bus stop,' they said.
MARTA stands for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority and operates public transportation in the city.
Atlanta has struggled to curb the homelessness problem, which was exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic. Encampments in the city are pictured above
Atlanta has launched several programs throughout the years to get unhoused people off the streets, as pictured above
MARTA previously launched MARTA HOPE (Homeless Outreach and Proactive Engagement) during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to offer services to those sleeping on public transit.
Case workers and mental health specialists were tasked with connecting people to shelter or reuniting them with family members to decrease the number of individuals sleeping on trains.
MARTA said they were not involved with the shuttle system residents complained about to WSB.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Atlanta mayor's office for comment.
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