Knoxville and Knox County are in year three of our ten-year plan to end chronic homelessness.
This plan recognizes the need to do things differently, and to coordinate local, state, and federal resources to address chronic homelessness, which is the most challenging kind, in a way that is both more cost effective and also more humane.
Homelessness is an issue with a big local impact. Many homeless individuals and families go unseen by the general population, but others are very visible, sleeping on streets and suffering from sickness, addictions, and mental illness. Nationally, the issue might seem abstract: fleeting images, statistics and sound bytes on the nightly news. Locally, homelessness is real, embodied in people we see and meet every day.
This is a critical problem that demands community attention. Despite available services that provide emergency care, the number of persons experiencing homelessness has steadily increased. Knoxville and Knox County have witnessed an increase from 800 homeless persons during any given month in 1986, to approximately 1,900 homeless persons per month in 2004. Many of these individuals have multiple problems: chronic mental illness, substance abuse, and domestic violence. Many lack the skills and resources for self-sufficiency.
A small segment of this population is chronically homeless. These are people who have been homeless for over one year. While the chronic homeless represent only 10% of the homeless population, they consume over 50% of the resources. These include emergency medical services, psychiatric treatment, detox facilities, shelters, law enforcement, and correctional facilities. Given the complexity and magnitude of this problem it is essential that Knoxville and Knox County seek new ways of preventing and ending chronic homelessness.
On a nationwide level, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) has brought together federal agencies and other resources to coordinate the national effort to combat homelessness. USICH has challenged communities across the country to do something different—to address the problem of homelessness at its core: the chronically homeless.
The ten-year plan to end chronic homelessness in Knoxville and Knox County is part of this national movement to end long-term or chronic homelessness. The plan offers a long-range, comprehensive approach to help people who are homeless gain stability in permanent housing. The emphasis on chronic homelessness reflects a new initiative on the national level. Under the leadership of USICH and its Executive Director, Philip F. Mangano, localities across the country have developed similar ten-year plans. Adapting the national model and practices to local needs should decrease the number of people in danger of becoming chronically homeless.
The Knoxville and Knox County ten-year plan will support state, regional, and federal efforts. Implementing the actions recommended in this plan will cost money, but that cost is considerably lower than the cost of addressing homelessness through public emergency systems. While the ten-year plan focuses on chronic homelessness, it will also reduce the incidence and length of homelessness among youth, families, and individuals who are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless.
The Mayors’ Office of the Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness will use this website to keep you informed about the implementation of the plan. We also hope to hear back from you, to aswer your questions and to engage you in a conversation about the plan. The Ten-Year Plan represents a shift from managing homelessness to ending it. Ending it is the better thing to do, and everyone benefits as we move down that path. So stay tuned, and speak up. We’re not just talking: we’re listening, too.
15 Comments
Why is the TYP not considering the many, on-the-market apartment complexes which would be much less expensive than Minvilla and would house those in need much more quickly?
We are considering many different options for additional permanent supportive housing, Gary.
A key goal of the TYP is to add 400 units of PSH-appropriate affordable housing to our housing stock by 2016, the tenth year of the TYP’s implementation. In order to meet that goal, we are considering existing buildings as well as new construction.
Thank you Robert but why the big push for the ultra-expensive Minvilla when so many other options are available which would house more people more quickly?
Can you define “PSH-appropriate”?
Thanks,
Daron
Gary,
The short answer to your question is that the funding sources for Minvilla are specific to the project. We can’t apply those funds to acquisition of other properties. We WILL need to acquire other properties, and we’re always on the lookout for viable ones, but those will be projects in their own right, with funding designated specifically for them.
Over half the funding for it are related to its intended use as affordable housing for very low-income residents. If Minvilla doesn’t get developed for that use, that money goes away. Then you’re back to trying to figure out how to preserve the structure with market-oriented development. That’s been attempted and failed. VMC’s project was the only one that came forward that actually has a shot at being viable.
As I said, that’s the short answer. I’m putting together a website for Minvilla which will bring together a lot of presently-scattered information. I hope to have that up within the next day or so, and I’ll link to it from this website.
Best,
Robert
Thank you Robert, other than historic tax credits (20% of redevelopment costs), precisely what funding and amounts thereof are strictly limited to Minvilla?
Regards,
Gary
Daron,
I appreciate the question. A PSH-appropriate site probably needs to do all of these things:
1. Affordable. It has to be financially feasible for the intended affordable housing project.
2. Transportation. It should gives its residents ready access to public transportation.
3. Work. It should offer residents ready access to appropriate employment opportunities.
We believe PSH should be distributed throughout Knox County. That is why these criteria will be important items on the agenda of the joint City Council + County Commission workshop scheduled for December 11. The TYP has asked Council and Commission to help us shape our community’s criteria for placement of PSH developments. Dec 11 will really be the beginning of that process, which we anticipate will take several months, so at the end of that period, these criteria might have evolved due to representatives’ input.
Thanks for the question. Let me know if you’ve got others.
when Mayor Haslam met with a group in Fourth & Gill, he said that the project was going to be a lockdown facility. what does that mean?
Betty,
I don’t know if Mayor Haslam meant it this way or not, but lockdown implies that residents would be confined within their apartments or within the building. Mayor Haslam may have understood at that time that Minvilla was to be operated as a lockdown facility. That has never been, to my knowledge, seriously considered as an option.
Minvilla Manor is a permanent supportive housing development whose residents will be free to come and go 24/7 just like any other residents in any other rental housing. Security is a top priority, and anyone who enters the building will have to pass by the person at the front desk so as to reduce the risk of non-residents causing problems.
But Minvilla has never been contemplated as a lockdown facility.
Robert,
Which funding sources of Minvilla can only be used for historic rehab?
Thank you,
Gary
Gary,
Sale of historic tax credits provides funds that can be used only for historic rehab. Minvilla will have about $1,200,000 in HTC.
Best,
Robert
Hello TYP Folks,
A couple of questions if you do not mind—-
Question #1: What is the annual operating budget of the TYP?
Question #2: I have seen thoughtful queries as to why other, much more cost-effective apartment complexes are not being pursued *prior* to the Fifth Ave. project, can you shed some light upon that question?
Thanks for your work!
Stu Ross
s.ross@kcc.com
Stuart,
In answer to your first question, the TYP’s annual operating budget is approximately $250,000 per year. That comes from the City and the County, more from the former than from the latter.
In answer to your second question, I will refer you to http://minvilla.knoxtenyearplan.org/2008/12/03/why-not-do-more-psh-cheaper-elsewhere/
Best,
Robert
I would like to know since Mayor Haslam has approved the sites for the homeless housing, why aren’t you all looking at the empty lot that is on Jackson Avenue? It is my understanding that the developer was supposed to develop condos, but since the city is already paying 11,000 a month for this property would it be viable for the 10 Year Plan to use this for the homeless?
There are a couple of reasons that we’re not looking at that site, Karen. First, that’s a valuable piece of property that is very close to Minvilla and other homeless service providers. Second, I imagine that the City would be very reluctant to embrace permanent supportive housing as the best use for the property.