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 reco

See Full Page