Housing Assistance for Single Mothers in Georgia: 9 Programs

If you have been searching for rent help in Georgia, you have probably landed on the state's own rental assistance site. It still has an eligibility checker and a list of documents to gather. It has also been closed for a year.

This guide goes through what is actually open to a single mother in Georgia right now: which doors are shut, which are not, and the programs built specifically for mothers with children, with the rules each one applies before it says yes.

State rental assistance	DCA voucher waitlist	Counties DCA does not cover
Closed sunsetted September 30, 2025	Closed tenant-based lists, statewide	10 of 159 run by their own housing authority

Key Takeaways

• Georgia Rental Assistance is gone. The program that paid up to 18 months of rent sunsetted on September 30, 2025. Its website is still live and still ranks, which is why people keep applying.
• The state voucher list is closed too. DCA runs Housing Choice Vouchers in 149 of Georgia's 159 counties, and its tenant-based waitlists are shut.
• Ten counties are not DCA's. They are run by their own housing authorities, on separate lists, which can be open when the state's are not.
• Atlanta Housing is a different door again, with more than 90 apartment communities, each keeping its own waitlist.
• Two more doors are shut than most guides admit. St Vincent de Paul's move-in grant has closed its application too. Four nonprofits still take single mothers directly, and this guide gives the rule each one checks first.

Who qualifies for housing help in Georgia

Almost every program here works from the same two facts: how much you earn against your area's median income, and whether you have children living with you. The national guide to housing assistance for single mothers explains how those two tests work across every state.

For vouchers the ceiling is usually 50% of area median income. On top of that, federal rules require every housing authority to fill at least 75% of its yearly admissions from the waiting list with extremely low income families, meaning those under 30% of area median income or the federal poverty line, whichever is higher. Those numbers change by county.

The nonprofits set their own rules, and they are stricter in a different direction. Several want to see income, not the absence of it, because they are placing you in a unit you will help pay for.

The state programs, and which doors are shut

This is where most guides send you first, and where most readers lose two weeks. Georgia is not unusual in this. The Texas housing guide covers a state agency that says on its own site it does not serve individuals at all.

Georgia Rental Assistance, closed

Georgia received $989 million in federal emergency rental assistance and ran it through the Department of Community Affairs from March 2021. Eligible households got up to 18 months of rent and utility relief, paid straight to the landlord. The program's own page now reads: "GRA Program has sunsetted as of September 30, 2025."

Status

Closed to new applications since September 30, 2025

If you applied

Completed applications submitted by that date were still processed

Questions

833-827-7368

The site keeps its eligibility checker and document list on the same page as the closure notice, above the fold and below it. Read the notice first.

Housing Choice Voucher through the state

The voucher pays part of your rent directly to a private landlord and you cover the rest. In Georgia the state runs it for most of the map: DCA administers the program in 149 of Georgia's 159 counties through two regional offices.

Its tenant-based waitlists are currently closed. That is not a permanent state of affairs, and lists reopen with little warning, but today there is nothing to join.

Two things are worth knowing before the next opening. DCA keeps two lists, one northern and one southern, and selection is not first come, first served. When an application window closes, an outside agency draws the names by lottery, so applying in the first hour buys you nothing over the last day.

Georgia is stricter here than some states. Florida keeps several separate programs running alongside its vouchers, which is why a mother who has moved between the two states finds a different map.

Coverage

149 of 159 counties

Waitlist

Closed. Two regional lists, north and south

Selection

Lottery, not first come first served

DCA charges nothing to apply and warns about sites that claim to collect a fee on its behalf. There is no such fee, for any housing authority, anywhere.

The ten counties DCA does not run

This is the part worth acting on. DCA covers 149 counties, which leaves ten served by their own local housing authorities. Those authorities keep separate lists on separate schedules, and a local list can be open in a week when the state's is not.

The same is true of city authorities inside DCA's territory. Find yours through HUD's public housing agency directory and call rather than relying on the website.

Why it matters

A separate list means a separate chance

How to check

HUD's PHA directory, then phone

Cost

Free to apply to as many as you can reach

Apply everywhere you are eligible. Being on five lists is not cheating, it is how the system is designed to work.

Atlanta Housing

If you are in the city, Atlanta Housing is a third door with its own rules. Alongside vouchers it runs more than 90 apartment communities that offer rental assistance on site.

Each of those communities keeps its own waitlist, and you apply to the property, not to Atlanta Housing. You do not have to call blind: Atlanta Housing publishes a list of every community and whether its waiting list is open. Check that first, and note which entries are marked seniors only, because several are.

Communities

90+ across the city

You apply to

The property, not the agency

Also runs

Housing Choice Vouchers and emergency support

Ask each office two things: is the list open, and roughly how long is it. The second answer tells you whether to wait.

Transitional housing built for single mothers

These are the programs built for mothers with children rather than for households in general. None of them is emergency housing, and each screens for something different, so read the rule before you spend an afternoon on the form.

City of Refuge, Atlanta

City of Refuge runs Eden Village on its Westside campus. It serves single women and women with children, and its published rule on older boys is specific: sons can stay with their mothers if they are 14 or younger.

Takes

Single women and mothers with children

Age rule

Sons 14 or younger may stay

Housing line

404-874-2241, allow 48 hours

Do not call 404-281-5880 for this. That line is The 345, their program for men aged 18 to 25. If your son is 15 or older, City of Refuge's own advice is to call 211.

Wellroot Family Services

Wellroot takes families with one or more children who are at imminent risk of homelessness. The timing rule is the one people miss: applications stay on file for six months, and after that you have to reapply.

Reapplication happens in the first week of the new quarter. Put it in your calendar when you apply, because an expired application does not tell you it has expired.

Be clear about the pace. Wellroot states plainly that it does not provide emergency housing and that every application goes onto a waiting list. Apply before the tenancy ends, not after.

Takes

Families at imminent risk of homelessness

On file

6 months, then reapply

Reapply

First week of the new quarter

Imminent risk does not mean already homeless. An eviction notice counts, and applying before you lose the tenancy is the point.

St Vincent de Paul, Metro Atlanta Rehousing Initiative, closed

MARI pays up to $2,000 toward move-in costs, a deposit and a first month's rent, across 13 metro Atlanta counties. Its application page now reads "This application is now closed." It is listed here for the same reason the state program is: it is still the first result a lot of readers find, and it is worth knowing what it checks for if it reopens.

The conditions are unusual. You must already have been accepted for housing, with a welcome letter from the landlord, and the rent must come to 40% or less of your income, which has to come from work, retirement, SSI or SSDI. MARI never covered past-due rent or housing debt, only the cost of moving in.

Status

Closed to new applications

Paid

Up to $2,000 toward move-in costs

Never covered

Past-due rent or housing debt

The landlord letter is the sequencing rule. MARI funded a move you had already been approved for, so if it reopens, find the apartment first.

H.O.P.E. Inc, for single parents in college

H.O.P.E. pays up to $400 a month toward rent or mortgage and up to $400 a month toward childcare. It is aimed at single parents finishing a degree, and it says most single parents take 6 to 15 years to finish a bachelor's degree against about 6 for a student with no children.

Read its eligibility page twice. Alongside the GPA and enrollment rules it requires that you have been employed, full or part time, for at least six months, and that you are a US citizen working toward a degree rather than a certificate. The employment rule is the one that catches people out.

Rent

Up to $400 a month

Childcare

Up to $400 a month

Requires

Full-time study, 2.7 GPA, custody, and 6 months in a job

This is the only program here that pays rent and childcare at once, which is why the GPA condition is worth protecting.

Serenade Heights, Cherokee County

Serenade Heights is a supportive transitional housing alternative for single mother families, serving Cherokee County and the areas around it. It is small and local, which is the reason to call rather than wait on a state list if you live nearby.

Area

Cherokee County and surrounding

Built for

Single mother families specifically

Office

770-733-9728, Woodstock

Small programs rarely publish waitlist times, so call 770-733-9728 and ask directly. They also run free workshops for single mothers, with dinner and childcare.

The programs side by side

Program	Who it takes	The rule it checks first	Where
Georgia Rental Assistance	Nobody, closed	Sunsetted 30 Sep 2025	Statewide
DCA voucher	Low income households	Waitlist closed	149 counties
Local housing authority	Low income households	Its own separate list	10 counties, plus cities
Atlanta Housing	Low income households	Each property's own list	City of Atlanta
City of Refuge	Women and mothers	Sons 14 or younger	Atlanta
Wellroot	Families with children	Imminent risk of homelessness	Metro Atlanta
SVDP MARI	Nobody, closed	Application closed	13 counties
H.O.P.E. Inc	Single parents in college	2.7 GPA, full time	Georgia
Serenade Heights	Single mother families	Local catchment	Cherokee County

What to do while a waitlist sits still

A closed list is not the end of the month's problem. Two things are worth doing in the meantime.

Call 211 and ask specifically about emergency rent and utility funds held by local agencies. These are separate pots from the state program, they open and empty through the year, and they are almost never advertised.

The guide to emergency assistance for single mothers lists the national funds that pay within days rather than months.

Then look at what else you are entitled to, because cash freed up elsewhere pays rent just as well. The Georgia grants guide covers TANF, SNAP, CAPS childcare and the HOPE scholarship in one place.

If you need somewhere to sleep this week

None of the programs above works on a timescale of days. For that, dial 211. A person will search your county for open shelter beds and emergency funds while you are on the line.

If you are leaving an unsafe home, say so when you call. Domestic violence shelters run on separate capacity and separate rules, and they do not use the same waitlists.

How to apply, in the order that works

Start with the doors that are open. Call the housing authority covering your county, and ask whether its list is open and how long it runs.

Then apply to every nonprofit whose rule you already meet. Wellroot if you have an eviction notice, H.O.P.E. if you are enrolled and working, City of Refuge or Serenade Heights by location.

Keep a note of every date you applied. Two of these programs expire applications quietly, and the only person tracking that is you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Georgia Rental Assistance still available in 2026?

No. The program sunsetted on September 30, 2025 and takes no new applications. Its website is still online, still ranks in search, and still displays an eligibility checker, which is why people keep applying to it. Applications completed before that date were still processed for payment.

Can a single mother get Section 8 in Georgia right now?

The state's own tenant-based waitlists are closed. DCA runs vouchers in 149 of Georgia's 159 counties, so ten counties have their own housing authorities with separate lists, which can be open when the state's is not. Check HUD's directory for yours. DCA gives preference to applicants who live or work in a county on the list they apply to.

Which Georgia program helps fastest?

For a bed this week, only 211. None of the programs here is emergency housing, and Wellroot says so on its own page. City of Refuge works on availability, so a call tells you in days whether there is space. Vouchers are the cheapest long-term option but move on a timescale of years.

Do any Georgia programs help with a deposit or move-in costs?

Not right now. St Vincent de Paul's Metro Atlanta Rehousing Initiative paid up to $2,000 toward move-in costs across 13 counties, and its application is closed. If it reopens it checks three things: income from work, retirement, SSI or SSDI, a landlord who has already accepted you, and rent at 40% or less of income.

Is there help if I am in college with children?

H.O.P.E. Inc pays up to $400 a month toward rent and up to $400 toward childcare for single parents finishing a degree. You must be enrolled full time in a degree program, hold a 2.7 GPA, have your children in your custody, and have worked full or part time for at least six months.

Sources

• Georgia Rental Assistance, official site (retrieved 2026-09-22). "GRA Program has sunsetted as of September 30, 2025." Program funded with $989 million in federal emergency rental assistance, opened March 2021, paid up to 18 months of relief.
• Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Housing Choice Voucher waiting list (retrieved 2026-09-22). "DCA's Tenant Based Voucher Program wait lists are currently closed." DCA administers the program in 149 of Georgia's 159 counties; the remaining 10 are served by their local housing authorities.
• Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Housing Choice Voucher Applicant FAQ (PDF) (retrieved 2026-09-22). DCA maintains two waiting lists, one northern and one southern; selection uses "an outside agency to conduct a random lottery selection for placement on the wait list"; preference goes to applicants who live or work in a county on the list applied to; the income ceiling is 50% of area median income.
• Atlanta Housing, Housing Programs (retrieved 2026-09-22). More than 90 apartment communities offer AH rental assistance; applicants contact each community's property management to check whether its waiting list is open.
• 24 CFR 982.201, Eligibility and targeting (eCFR, title 24 current as of 2026-09-17, retrieved 2026-09-22). "Not less than 75 percent of the families admitted to a PHA's HCV program during the PHA fiscal year from the PHA waiting list shall be extremely low income families." Income eligibility runs to "very low income" families, with named low-income exceptions.
• Atlanta Housing, property-based community listing (PDF) (retrieved 2026-09-22). Lists every AH-assisted community and whether its waiting list is open, including communities restricted to seniors or persons 55 and older.
• HUD, PHA contact information (retrieved 2026-09-22). Directory of public housing agencies by state.
• City of Refuge, apply for help (retrieved 2026-09-22). "Eden Village serves single women and women with children (male children accompanied with their mothers can reside at Eden Village if they are 14 years of age or younger)." General housing inquiries: 404-874-2241, allow up to 48 hours for a callback. The separate number 404-281-5880 is for The 345, which "serves young men ages 18-25, veterans, and men reentering society." If there are no vacancies the page directs callers to 211.
• Wellroot Family Services, Family Housing (retrieved 2026-09-22). "Wellroot accepts families with one or more children, who are at imminent risk of homelessness." Applications stay on file for 6 months, then must be resubmitted in the first week of the new quarter. "All applications are placed on our waiting list... We do not provide emergency housing." Accepts single-parent households and married couples with children under 18.
• St Vincent de Paul Georgia, Metro Atlanta Rehousing Initiative (retrieved 2026-09-22). "This application is now closed." Pays "up to $2,000 toward move-in costs (deposit and first-month's rent)" and "does not provide funding for past-due rent or housing debt." Applicants must have income from employment, retirement, SSI or SSDI, must "have been accepted for housing, with a welcome letter from the landlord," and rent must be 40% or less of income. 13 counties, Butts to Rockdale.
• H.O.P.E. Inc, Our Program (retrieved 2026-09-22). "We pay up to $400 a month toward your rent or mortgage" and "up to $400 a month toward childcare." The page carries two eligibility lists. Between them: US citizen, single parent with custody, diploma or GED, financial need, 2.7 GPA or higher, full-time study toward a degree ("no certificates or diplomas"), and employment "as a FT or PT employee for at least 6 months."
• Serenade Heights (retrieved 2026-09-22). "A supportive transitional housing alternative for single mother families designed to service Cherokee County, Georgia and surrounding areas." Office 770-733-9728, 218 Creekstone Ridge, Woodstock. Runs free workshops for single mothers with dinner and childcare provided.
• Georgia.gov, Assistance and Benefits Programs (retrieved 2026-09-22). Georgia Gateway is the state portal for SNAP, TANF and CAPS childcare applications.