Mayor Andre Dickens Orders Pause on Evictions, Water Shutoffs
As a means to aid families facing a lapse in food assistance this month, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has ordered an immediate pause on residential evictions and water shutoffs.
As reported by FOX 5 Atlanta, the administrative order directs the Department of Watershed Management to pause all water shutoffs for unpaid bills through January 31, 2026, or until the federal shutdown ends. It also instructs city housing partners, including the Atlanta Housing Authority and the Fulton County/City of Atlanta Land Bank Authority, to suspend eviction filings and late fees for housing owned or funded by the city for the same period.
Dickens said in a press conference Thursday:
“No resident should go hungry or wonder how they will put food on the table because of a government shutdown or a failure to agree on policy decisions. We care and are standing in gap, not as a substitute for federal benefits, but as a bridge to ensure our residents’ basic needs are met.”
The emergency order, part of the broader ATL CARES initiative, comes as residents faced a lapse in November SNAP benefits. On Friday, federal judges ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to cover (at least partially) food stamp benefits for November, according to CNN.
More from CNN:
The rulings from judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island reject a controversial US Department of Agriculture claim that it could not use a contingency fund, which the agency says has $5.3 billion remaining in it, to help cover the benefits amid the month-long government shutdown.
Hours later, President Donald Trump said he has instructed the administration’s lawyers to ask the courts how it can legally fund the benefits as quickly as possible because the attorneys “do not think we have the legal authority to pay SNAP with certain monies we have available.”
Mayor Andre Dickens Orders Pause on Evictions, Water Shutoffs was originally published on majicatl.com
