PHOTO ESSAY: One single mom’s quest to find housing after an eviction

ATLANTA (AP) — Last year, Sechita McNair and her three kids were evicted from their apartment in a rapidly gentrifying Atlanta neighborhood.

For many families, losing their home means changing schools, too.

Federal law protects evicted families, letting them stay in their schools even if they move out of the residency zone. But once McNair and her sons found housing in the Atlanta suburb of Jonesboro, those protections would last only until the end of the school year. She was determined to find housing in her old neighborhood before school restarted, so her sons could have the stability and resources of staying in their old schools.

Securing a “semi-affordable” apartment in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward, with a landlord that would rent to a single mom with a fresh eviction on her record, proved nearly impossible.

Last school year, and over the summer, McNair and her kids drove back and forth between Jonesboro and their life in Atlanta. When her newer car was repossessed and she couldn’t afford to fix her older van, they used public transit – a trip that sometimes took nearly two hours.

The family’s rental in Jonesboro is in a neighborhood of brick colonials and manicured lawns. McNair realizes it’s the dream for some families, but not hers.

McNair wants her children to go to well-resourced schools. Atlanta spends nearly $20,000 per student a year, $7,000 more than the district in Jonesboro. More money in schools means smaller classrooms and more psychologists, guidance counselors and other support.

She also wants to live in a city with resources like those in Atlanta. She sees opportunities in its libraries, e-scooters, bike paths, hospitals, rental assistance agencies, Buy Nothing groups and food pantries.

McNair, an out-of-work film industry veteran, drove extra hours for Uber and borrowed money, eventually securing a lease in the right Atlanta neighborhood. She met her goal: Her kids could return to the same schools.

For a while, she wasn’t sure she felt safe giving up the house she rents in Jonesboro. For starters, she wasn’t even sure it was safe to spend the night in the Atlanta apartment. The front door looked like it had been forced open, she wanted more smoke detectors, and the fridge and oven didn’t work.

But paying rent on two homes is expensive. After failing to keep up with the Jonesboro rent, she’s preparing to leave that house before the landlord sends people to haul her possessions to the curb.

She has promised herself she’d never let that happen to her kids.

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This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.