The March Continuum of Care Homelessness Planning Council meeting, held Wednesday morning, wasn't nearly as tense as those that took place in February and January. While there were debates, discussions and some pointed clarifications — and even a couple jabs about communication and scheduling — there weren't any outright arguments. There were even some welcome announcements regarding the city's progress on housing people.
For example, a push to get landlords to accept housing vouchers and lower the barriers to housing saw results that earned cheers from members of the planning council — 50 vacant units became available through the effort, and they now house voucher-holders.
Additionally, the city is looking to get more ambitious about building permanent supportive housing — that is, housing for people experiencing homelessness that also provides on-site services and assistance — increasing its goal of creating 140 units by the end of the year to 300 units. That number includes the 90 units that will make up a permanent supportive housing development scheduled to break ground in May. (The development was originally scheduled to be completed in 2021.)
Still, challenges lie ahead. The city needs to hire an interim team to manage the Homelessness Management Information System — a vital tool that helps match people experiencing homelessness with resources they need — because two members of the team are leaving.
There's also the question of whether the city needs to be more ambitious. For example, the rapid rehousing goal is currently set to 233 households a year. Vanderbilt University professor Beth Shinn says that goal is too short, and suggested an increase to 600 — which still falls short of the need. Rapid rehousing is supported with federal funds, and the HCP discussed if there are any risks with setting loftier goals for that money.
One member suggested setting an ambitious goal would show that the city understands that seriousness of the issue, and another asked what the repercussions would be of setting a goal and falling short. Ginger Hausser, representing Mayor John Cooper's office, replied that falling short of an ambitious goal could affect future HUD applications.
Paula Foster of Open Table said that if the city and partners weren't receiving more money to create more housing, then they were unlikely to meet a lofty goal anyhow.
Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda asked if there were plans to request federal American Rescue Plan dollars be put toward the housing and rehousing effort. She added that most respondents to a survey of how Nashvillians want to spend that money listed affordable housing as the top priority.
April Calvin, assistant director of the Metro Homeless Impact Division, said the mayor's office has had conversations about housing, but couldn't confirm any details of the talks. Shinn said there was nothing to stop the mayor's office or the Metro Council from committing more funds to a “stretch goal.” Ultimately, no recommendations from the planning council were sent to the mayor's office about raising the goal.
Calvin and Foster also spoke about a California-based developer called Shangri-La that is interested in purchasing hotels or motels in Nashville and converting them into studio apartments for unhoused people. While Shangri-La wouldn't need public dollars to fund the building renovations, Foster said, they would need the city to fund on-site services to assist the tenants.
There wasn't much of an update or report about the closure of the homeless camp beneath the Jefferson Street Bridge. Calvin said that as of last week, three or four people were still in hotels waiting for housing, but other members of the camp had been placed. Calvin said more information would be available at a workshop about encampment strategies hosted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Development on Monday.
The plan to house members of the camp and close the site sparked tensions at the February meeting, as interim chief of the Homeless Impact Division Jay Servais defended both the program and his introduction of the plan. Some members of the HPC said the plan had not been properly vetted by them and that they had not been told it was already being implemented, and raised concerns about whether it circumvented the coordinated entry system, which uses data to prioritize the most vulnerable of people experiencing homelessness.
Additional criticisms included complaints that Servais and Calvin provided their draft of the camp plan in advance. One email shared with the Scene shows an HPC member requesting the document on Jan. 11; Calvin responded that due to medical concerns and staffing issues, she wasn't able to send it out. A similar version of the drafted camp plan was handed out by Servais and Calvin at a charette, or community meeting, about homelessness hosted in December by Vice Mayor Jim Shulman.
Servais defended the rollout of the plan and said it followed coordinated entry at at a tense hearing held by District 16 Councilmember Ginny Welsch.
Servais was not at the March meeting on Wednesday — Calvin said he was on a vacation that was scheduled months ago.
Among other updates, Calvin also announced the city would soon begin a national search for a full-time director of the Homeless Impact Division, and that the HCP's executive committee would be involved in the search process. The previous director, Judith Tackett, resigned in October after years of working with the city on homelessness issues.
