Tyler Perry Donating $750K to Help Low-Income Senior Citizens in Atlanta Avoid Displacement

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Tyler Perry is giving back to senior citizens in Atlanta.

A source tells PEOPLE that Perry, 53, is donating $750,000 to help prevent the displacement of low-income seniors in the city, particularly those who live in the area surrounding Tyler Perry Studios.

The source, who noted that rising property taxes in the area have been a significant factor in the displacement of longtime Atlanta residents, says Perry's donation will "pay off all back property taxes for every low-income senior" in the city, counting toward county and school taxes as well.

Perry's donation will also include roughly $500,000 donated every year over the next five years, intended to freeze property taxes for 100 low-income seniors in Atlanta over the next 20 years.

This recurring donation is intended to pay the difference between present-day property taxes and potential increases to those taxes over the next two decades, the source says.

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Perry recently reached out to Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens to inquire about providing this assistance. The funds involved will be overseen by Invest Atlanta Partnership, the city's economic development nonprofit organization, the source says.

When he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Oscars in 2021, Perry said in his speech, "When I set out to help someone, it is my intention to do just that. I'm not trying to do anything other than meet somebody at their humanity."

Describing an experience from years ago when he came across a woman who was homeless, Perry recounted how instead of wanting money, she wanted a pair of shoes. "It stopped me cold because I remember being homeless and having one pair of shoes and they were bent over at the heel," he said at the time.

Perry then brought the woman into the studio he was working at and guided her to the wardrobe department.

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"I'm waiting for her to look up and all this time she's looking down, she finally looks up, she's got tears in her eyes, [and] she said, 'Thank you Jesus, my feet are off the ground,' " he recalled. "In the moment I just recall her saying to me, 'I thought you would hate me for asking.' I'm like, 'How can I hate you when I used to be you? How can I hate you?' "

Comparing her situation with his own, Perry continued, "My mother taught me to refuse hate. She taught me to refuse blanket judgment."

"And in this time, with all of the internet and social media and algorithms and everything that wants us to think a certain way, the 24-hour news cycle, it is my hope that all of us would teach our kids, and I want to remember just refuse hate, don't hate anybody," he added. "Don't hate anybody."