Jay Servais
After homeless camps became a big story in 2021 — especially the camp in Brookmeade Park, the presence of which riled up West Nashville residents — the work being done by public officials to house people has received more attention from the media and the public.
The sudden resignation of Metro Homeless Impact Division director Judy Tackett in October was a seismic event for the local community of homelessness service providers and outreach workers. It also signaled more internal issues with the John Cooper administration — Tackett’s assistant director Abigail Dowell had resigned weeks earlier, and several other staffers have left the mayor’s office since. Speaking to the Metro Council in November, Tackett said the “leadership structure” made it hard to execute the vision she had in mind. Now it’s time to see how well city leadership performs after her departure.
Jay Servais of the Office of Emergency Management was tapped as the interim director of the Homeless Impact Division. Servais has previously played a role in setting up emergency shelters, including facilities for people with COVID-19 during the start of the pandemic. Servais doesn’t have many vocal detractors, though some councilmembers have called for the mayor to speed up the process of permanently appointing someone with more homelessness outreach experience. Servais has said in public that Tackett set up a great staff and framework, and wrote in a Tennessean op-ed that Nashville is working on a long-term plan. The details of that plan, and how much will actually get off the ground, remain to be seen.
To be sure, some big moves are already underway. New mobile housing navigation centers opened in August, allowing small groups of people experiencing homelessness to stay in places like churches while outreach workers help get them housing and resources. Based on a popular program that started in San Francisco, the Nashville model will feature centers in different parts of the city where they’re most needed — that’s why they’re called “mobile” — and away from downtown Nashville’s concentration of services. The center in Bellevue helped 14 people between October and November, according to a spokesperson from Cooper’s office. The biggest hurdle to the centers’ long-term success will be housing. While the city is proud of assisting hundreds of people in 2021 through rapid rehousing, Metro is still struggling to find landlords willing to accept vouchers like Section 8.
Speaking of housing, construction on a delayed permanent supportive housing project is scheduled to begin this spring. The 90-unit building — scaled back from 112 units — was supposed to have been completed by the end of 2021; the mayor’s office previously told the Scene the reason for the delay stemmed from a decision to improve the units and the building.
There will also be plenty of discussion about whether the city needs a new and independent Office of Housing and Homelessness. Councilmember Freddie O’Connell introduced a bill to create the department back in October, but it is now on hold until April while the city conducts an audit of the current structure. The Cooper administration has previously defended the existing structure — which sees the Homeless Impact Division nested in Metro Social Services — but has seemed to grow more amenable to the pitch. When April comes around, expect a lot of discussion about how much agencies like Metro Social Services and the Metro Development and Housing Agency are able or unable to accomplish.
The mayor also appointed a new housing director, Angela Hubbard, to work with a team that includes a data analyst and staff from the Barnes Housing Trust Fund. Hubbard says she wants to pick up the great work that was started by the city’s Affordable Housing Task Force, which in 2021 reported that Nashville was facing a severe housing crisis and listed recommended strategies to tackle it. Expect news on how Hubbard follows up on their findings.
The good news for affordable housing advocates is that there’s been a big boost in funds. During its last meeting of 2021, the Metro Council approved $20 million for the Barnes fund and another $20 million for a catalyst fund to help preserve existing units of affordable housing. That’s promising, and a welcome development for housing advocates. It’s also a good trend considering the Barnes fund endured a setback in December 2019, when the city controversially impounded $5 million from its funds, citing a need to plug a budget gap. (It was restored in March 2021.)
What’s next: seeing what projects get that funding, and if support for affordable housing goes beyond this one-time boost, which was made possible thanks to federal American Rescue Plan dollars.
