A Midtown Atlanta synagogue is at the heart of a new homeless prevention program to provide stable housing to at-risk residents through financial, legal, and supportive services.
Piloted in 10 cities across the U.S., Zaban Paradies Center (ZPC) at The Temple is charged with helping 150 families in the Atlanta Public Schools district who are at imminent risk of losing housing. The program, Atlanta Rising, is a $235 million long-term, citywide effort to end homelessness in Atlanta by scaling sustainable housing and support systems for Atlanta’s most vulnerable residents.
To qualify for Atlanta Rising, a family must earn less than 80% Area Median Income (AMI), a calculation made by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In metro Atlanta, the AMI is $117,800 for a family of four.
The pilot launched in July, and ZPC received an unexpected 283 requests without advertising. ZPC Executive Director Danny Lester-Drew said the online form shut down for a week while staff got in touch with each applicant. Some applicants are not eligible for Atlanta Rising because of their income or location, so they were referred to other organizations.
“Our team is working to route people to the direct services that are best for them,” Lester-Drew said.
For more than 40 years, ZPC has supported metro Atlanta’s homeless couples by providing a place to sleep and eat, adding other amenities as the shelter grew. What started as a volunteer-run, seasonal shelter in 1984 has bloomed into a year-round, nonprofit organization with a $3.4 million operating budget.
With each gift from individual supporters and corporate sponsors, ZPC has expanded its reach. In 1989, a gift from Erwin Zaban funded a new facility. In 2009, the shelter became an independent nonprofit after decades of volunteer leadership. After the passing of Dan Paradies, founder of the eponymous Atlanta-based airport shops, the shelter was renamed Zaban Paradies Center for Homeless Couples in 2015 thanks to a gift from the family.
Partner organizations like Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation serve households through case management, financial assistance, and legal services, while Partners for HOME moves people more swiftly into permanent housing from the shelter, Lester-Drew said.
ZPC continued to evolve in 2025, as it shifted from an overnight shelter to allowing all-day access.
“It is essentially their home for 30 to 90 days,” Lester-Drew said. “It was important for us to find ways to engage with our residents more often, and to be working from day one on a plan to move toward permanent housing.”
Last year, ZPC moved 57% of shelter residents into permanent housing, far exceeding the national average. The shelter served more than 1,000 individuals across the metro and reduced exits to temporary housing to just 18%.
According to the most recent point-in-time count, more than 3,000 Atlantans experienced homelessness during 2026 – a 6% increase over 2025. Forty percent of unsheltered people counted were experiencing homelessness for the first time, citing growing housing affordability and cost-of-living pressures.
Lester-Drew said national data on the unhoused population is hard to obtain. Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunity at the University of Notre Dame’s (LEO) is tracking the pilot participants to track the program’s success.
“[LEO] is going to measure the true impact for people in similar situations, so we hope that will provide a clear case for why prevention is an important part of the way we address homelessness,” Lester-Drew said.
Fifty percent of people in Atlanta spend more than a third of their income on their housing, and 25% spend more than half of their income on housing, Lester-Drew added.
“The reason we are expanding homelessness prevention and moving assistance is that housing is becoming less affordable and more people are at risk,” Lester-Drew said. “We’re going to continue to raise funds and help the community.”
Michael Dinerman is the grandson of Zaban and the co-chaor of the 2026 ZPC gala on Oct. 29. This year’s goal is to raise $1 million to cover the shelter’s growing needs, including a $130,000 kitchen renovation.
“Because we went from a volunteer-run organization supported by The Temple and the Jewish community to expanded services, we’re looking to the greater Atlanta community for support,” Dinerman said.
For more information about Zaban Paradies Center 2026 Gala, visit the website.
