The Parkway’s efficiency units were to have provided permanent supportive housing for formerly chronically homeless people. Every resident would have paid rent, and every resident would have been intensively case-managed. Most importantly, every resident would have been off the street and in their own homes.

Permanent supportive housing is demonstrated to save cost. Right now, it costs our community something in the neighborhood of $40,000 per year to maintain a chronically homeless person on the street. When those folks move into permanent supportive housing, the costs to the community fall dramatically. Increasing numbers of studies back that up. Here’s a link to one from Portland, Maine.

The Parkway, located at 3701 Chapman Highway, is very suitable for permanent supportive housing. Prior to its closing, it had historically been used as low-income housing; it’s located close to multiple, appropriate employment opportunities; and its proximity to service providers and bus lines makes its location excellent.

The Ten-Year Plan office was working with a nonprofit developer of low-income housing to pursue funding from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency and the Federal Home Loan Bank. No local funds were anticipated in the budget for this rehabilitation of the Parkway, but timing was critical. THDA’s application deadline for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits is March 19. The Parkway deal broke down at the acquisition stage.

Permanent supportive housing is provided in low-income rental housing and is an essential component of the Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. Knoxville faces a shortage of low-income rental housing. The Ten-Year Plan will continue to work hard to change that situation, so that we can move chronically homeless people off the streets and into homes of their own.