An Atlanta transitional program will use more than half a million dollars to create more space for homeless women.

Atlanta's City of Refuge will use a $620,000 grant from the Atlanta Development Authority to open the second phase of its Eden Village transitional center. The construction will help 100 additional women and will replace the former Ellis Street shelter.

The project is an outgrowth of the city's 2005 "Blueprint to End Homelessness in Atlanta" by the Regional Commission on Homelessness. The city issued $22 million in Homeless Opportunity Bonds in 2006 to help fund the initiatives proposed in the study

City of Refuge received $1.5 million from the program build the first phase of Eden village, a 40,000-square foot unit opened to house some 132 homeless women and their children.