Advocacy
The vision of Central Outreach and Advocacy Center is to be passionate advocates and invested partners for our guests experiencing homelessness. At the OAC, this passionate advocacy means being a voice for our guests, whether that’s in the services our staff and volunteers provide every day, or a voice speaking on our guests’ behalf on a broader level, such as to government agencies or state legislators. Our advocacy agenda remains flexible, able to address the needs of our guests as they arise, and to respond to barriers our staff and volunteers face in the daily services we provide.
Below are some examples of how we advocate for our guests, and how you can join with us in this advocacy.
Empowering Others to Join in our Advocacy
Throughout the year, especially during the state legislative session, we send out advocacy action alerts via email. These emails provide actions that you can take to join with us to be a voice for our guests. If you would like to sign up to receive these action alerts, please email Sarah Zimbardi at [email protected]. Below are the most recent action alerts:
February 27,2026 – Prevent the Criminalization of the Unhoused Community.
February 4, 2026 – Two Harmful Bills on the Move at the Capitol (HB 61 and HB 295)
January 14, 2026 – Atlanta Permanent Housing Units at Risk of Losing Supportive Services!
November 1, 2025 – SNAP Benefits will be cut off beginning this Saturday
Listening to the Voices of the OAC’s Guests
In 2025, we began hosting quarterly advocacy roundtable discussions with guests of the OAC. These gatherings have allowed us to share information about downtown changes affecting the unhoused community, hear directly from guests about the barriers they face, and gather input on what the OAC should be advocating for. Most importantly, these meetings have given us time to sit together, share a meal, and listen without an agenda beyond connection. If you would like to be a part of these conversations, please contact the OAC’s Advocacy Coordinator, Sarah Zimbardi at [email protected].
Addressing Barriers in the Daily Services we Provide
A common barrier we run into daily at the OAC is how difficult it is for our guests to obtain identity documents.
- DDS Driving History Requirement. If a guest’s most recent ID or license was from another state and they do not have that ID to turn in when applying for a Georgia ID or license, DDS requires them to obtain a driving history record from the other state. This can add weeks or even months to the process to get an ID, often leaving our guests unable to apply for housing or even enter most shelters in the Atlanta area. We are actively engaging with DDS on this issue, encouraging them to change this requirement. You can read more about this issue in the position paper we sent to DDS in February 2026.
- Birth Certificates. Our guests also often have issues obtaining a birth certificate, which is required to get a Georgia ID if you haven’t had a Georgia ID since 2012. Many state vital records require some form of ID in order to get a birth certificate including a variety of secondary forms of ID, however these generally include documents that our guests don’t have, such as utility bills, car registration records, W2s, etc.
Our staff and volunteers have spent years developing workarounds for each state to break down this barrier. Despite these efforts, we still have a couple of guests each week that do not have the documents necessary to apply for their birth certificate, leaving them in limbo, unable to get a Georgia ID without a birth certificate, or a birth certificate without an ID.
In 2024, we were able to get creative in our advocacy work and add one more workaround to the list – have our advocacy coordinator who is an attorney submit an application on their behalf. While not all states allow this, many do, enabling us to help pull more of our guests out of this limbo and back on track towards getting an ID.
- Document Storage. We’ve also provided document storage for our guests for the last number of years. This allows guests to have a safe place to store their important documents when not in use – birth certificates, social security cards, marriage licenses, etc. In late 2024 we expanded this service to include uploading copies of documents into Client Track, the secure online system that many Atlanta service agencies use. This enables guests to access copies from any agency that uses the system, empowering them to take steps forward in their job search, housing applications, etc. These copies can also be useful in getting new documents when the original is lost, removing another barrier to these services.
Addressing Barriers Beyond our Doors:
Expanding Public Restroom Access
A key barrier our guests face outside the doors of the OAC is the lack of public restrooms available to them in downtown Atlanta. While it may seem like a trivial issue to some, it’s an issue that affects anyone and everyone who walks through downtown Atlanta, whether that’s by the cleanliness of the sidewalks, or accessibility of restrooms. In fall 2025 we gathered 923 signatures on a letter to the Atlanta Mayor via a petition. Staff, board members, and volunteers of the OAC joined with representatives from 5 other organizations to present this letter to the Mayor’s Office in a meeting in December 2025. We will continue this advocacy moving forward into 2026.
According to the Public Toilet Index, the US has 8 public restrooms per 100,000 residents, sitting well below the average of most European and Asian countries. Atlanta falls even further below this with a measly 4 restrooms per 100,000 residents. Here is a map of restrooms in Atlanta put together by reporter Hannah Palmer.
As anyone with certain health conditions, or who is the parent of a potty-training toddler, or who is trying to enjoy a walk downtown knows, access to restrooms is essential. For many of us who are simply walking around downtown for a few minutes or hours at a time, we have the option of making a quick dash into a business to use a restroom.
But now imagine that you live outdoors and keep all of your possessions with you at all times. What do you do?
Will a business let you come in with all your bags to use the restroom? Especially if you don’t have money to make a purchase?
Do you try to take everything into a public building like the State Capitol or City Hall to use the restroom? But then all of your bags have to be sent through a security scanner and you may even have to show ID. Even at the public library your bags have to be scanned. So do you leave everything outside somewhere and risk it getting stolen?
Can you go into a MARTA station and use the restroom there? At most stations you can only gain access to the restrooms if you have a MARTA card to scan through the barriers, another privilege that many of our guests don’t have.
If any of the homeless services agencies are open, you may be able to go there. But if those aren’t open, what do you do?
You can go wait in line at the one automated toilet in Woodruff Park.
Literally one, easy-to-access public toilet, for the hundreds of unsheltered people living in the downtown area.
There is another automated restroom not far away next to Atlanta City Hall, but it’s been closed for months due to damage to the door. It has yet to be repaired or replaced by the City.
Some of the parks in the vicinity of downtown have restrooms that are open during business hours only. There is another automated toilet on Edgewood Avenue. But these all are generally not in easy walking distance for many who live close to the service providers downtown.
So again, one easily accessible restroom for hundreds.
This is shameful.
And for those who have to face the decision of where to go five or more times a day, it is unfair and undignified.
So many of us have the luxury of overlooking this as an issue, but it is a serious issue. And the City can do something about it. As part of our advocacy work, we have been talking to anyone who will listen about the lack of access to public restrooms downtown. We’re hoping that in the wake of the World Cup coming to Atlanta in 2026 there will be enough momentum to get more restrooms put in the downtown area. You too can spread the word – speak to your city councilman, or any business and faith leaders you know. We need to make this a talked about issue. If you have any questions or ideas for spreading the word further, please reach out to our Advocacy Coordinator at [email protected]!
Addressing Statewide Barriers:
Legislative Policy Advocacy
The 2025-2026 legislative session is in full swing. Here are a few things we’ll be keeping an eye on this legislative session.
- Bills on medicaid expansion. We believe that all of our guests should have access to health insurance. Medicaid expansion would ensure that they are all eligible and able to receive coverage. Unfortunately last legislative session, despite much anticipation, no real movement was made other than the passage of HB 1339 (codified at OCGA Sec 49-4-156). This bill created the Comprehensive Health Coverage Commission which has been tasked, in part, with exploring opportunities to improve healthcare for Georgia’s low-income and uninsured populations. Videos and notes from their meetings so far can be found here. A great organization to follow for updates on closing the Medicaid coverage gap is Georgians for a Healthy Future.
- Bills aimed at removing criminal justice barriers. Unfortunately a number of our guests have had some sort of interaction with the criminal justice system, whether that’s an arrest, a first offender sentence, or a criminal conviction. This sort of history can be detrimental for our guests, even years later, when trying to find housing and employment. In the last legislative session, a few bills came very close to passage that would have made significant improvements in breaking down the barriers these criminal records can create. The Georgia Justice Project will be reintroducing these bills this year and pushing them forward. You can find more information about these bills and follow Georgia Justice Project’s progress here.
- Bills banning camping or sleeping in public. One important issue to be on the look out for in this legislative session are bills reflective of the United States Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in the case of Grants Pass vs. Johnson. In that case, the Court ruled that local governments can enforce laws that prohibit camping on public property without violating the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment by the government. The Court emphasized that these ordinances punish acts, not the status of being homeless.
In simple terms, this decision means that the legislature or local governments can pass laws punishing people with arrest and/or fines for sleeping outside. Georgia touched on camping bans in 2023 with the passage of SB 62, a bill that said in part that local governments can’t block the enforcement of any laws against “unauthorized public camping, sleeping or obstruction of sidewalks.” This means that if the legislature were to pass an anti-camping law this session, local governments would have to enforce it. Hopefully the legislature won’t go this far, but be ready to advocate against it if the issue is raised.
If you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions, feel free to reach out to our Advocacy Coordinator, Sarah Zimbardi, at [email protected].