The family of Cornelius Taylor, a 46-year-old man who died when a bulldozer crushed his tent in an Atlanta encampment, filed a lawsuit Friday against two nonprofits it says are partly responsible for his death.
The lawsuit names Partners for HOME and SafeHouse Outreach, alleging their employees failed to check whether Taylor was in his tent before the bulldozer was deployed during a January 2025 encampment sweep near Ebenezer Baptist Church. The city had requested the clearance ahead of celebrations for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
The death triggered outrage among homeless advocates who say Atlanta’s policies on encampment clearing are inhumane and ignore the city’s severe affordable housing shortage. This is the second lawsuit the family has filed — they sued the city in July 2025 over the same death.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages as well as compensation for medical and hospital bills, burial costs, attorney’s fees and litigation costs.
The Family’s Allegations
Harold Spence, one of the lawyers representing the family, said at a news conference Friday that city officials and the nonprofit employees didn’t want the “dignitaries” attending the Martin Luther King Jr. event to see the encampment. “They were in a rush to remove it,” Spence said. “Unfortunately, it turned out they were willing to remove it at any cost.”
Spence added that Taylor had recently secured a job and was ready to “turn his life around.”
Organizational Response
Partners for HOME is the city’s lead agency on homelessness. CEO Cathryn Vassell said the nonprofit cannot comment on the lawsuit because it has not seen it but “is committed to its mission making homelessness in Atlanta rare, brief and nonrecurring.” SafeHouse Outreach, another Atlanta nonprofit serving unhoused people, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
From Moratorium to Resumption
Taylor’s death prompted the city to enact a temporary moratorium on encampment sweeps. But with the FIFA World Cup coming to Atlanta this summer, the city has since resumed clearing encampments with the goal of eliminating all homelessness from the downtown area before the tournament.
Partners for HOME is approaching its goal of housing 400 people ahead of the World Cup, Vassell said. But local advocates argue that the clearing efforts are inhumane given the city’s severe affordable housing shortage, which they say makes it inevitable that people will end up living on the streets.