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Knox County report shows lack of affordable housing, eviction are leading causes of homelessness

A report about homelessness outside Knoxville showed that a lack of homes that people can afford and more evictions may have led to a rise in homelessness.

KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — On Monday, the Knox County Commission started a work session meeting with a report on homelessness across the county. It was presented by Jenny Holden, the director of grants and community development for Knox County.

"Obviously, homelessness is a complicated issue and no single report can cover every single aspect of the problem," she said. "The bulk of our time was spent looking at the situation here at home."

Data in the Report

She said that 3,501 people were experiencing homelessness in Knox County, and the bulk of those people were considered "literally homeless" without any place to go. The data comes from the KnoxHMIS program, which tracks data related to homelessness in the area. The program tracks people who have interacted with outreach teams, 211, case workers, or other homeless outreach services.

She said some of the top contributors to homelessness include a lack of affordable housing, eviction, job loss, underemployment, substance misuse, mental health and domestic violence.

"When combined, the lack of affordable housing and eviction is, by far, the greatest cause of homelessness cited by unhoused individuals and families living here in Knox County," she said.

She said that a sharp rise in home prices during the first quarter of 2022 made homes affordable to only around a third of all people living in Knox County. At the same time, she said rent prices increased by more than 19% over a single year, with demand exceeding supply by around 50%.

"We've got a major problem with supply and demand," Holden said.

Ben Bentley, with Knoxville's Community Development Corporation, said there is a really big need for affordable housing, as demonstrated by the growing numbers of homeless.

"We've got to build more housing here locally, not much different from other markets across the country, but it's especially pronounced in Knox County," Bentley said. "We work really closely with the city of Knoxville and Knox County, and they're both devoting significant resources to expand our affordable housing."

In the third quarter of 2022, Holden said 750 new households entered the KnoxHMIS system and 76% of them said they previously lived in Knox County.

"I know sometimes there's this idea that homeless folks live in outside of our area," said Holden.

Another major reason behind homelessness was job loss and underemployment, she said. According to data in the report, the median income in Knox County is around $59,000 per year in 2020. However, she said around 42% of residents have incomes less than $49,999 per year.

"With local housing costs increasing at record levels, many households are forced to spend a greater percentage of their income on housing. Any household that is spending more than 30% of their income on housing is considered 'housing cost-burdened,'" she said. "That's a real burden when you're having to spend 78% of your income just to have a place to live."

People making less than $20,000 per year spend around 78% of their income on housing, she said. People making between $20,000 and $35,000 per year spend around 59% of their income on housing in Knox County, according to the data.

"Incomes are not going up that quickly, nowhere that I've looked, no data points suggest that we're seeing double-digit income increases in Knox County anytime soon," Bentley said.

Around 24% of people accessing homeless services said they were facing health issues and challenges with disabilities. However, she said the number of people facing challenges with mental health issues or substance misuse could actually be much higher.

"Many times individuals seeking assistance are concerned that admitting they're struggling, particularly with substance misuse or mental health issues — they're afraid that's going to impact their access to services," she said.

She also said keeping people from becoming homeless could help prevent health issues from developing, and in turn, help keep more people out of homelessness in the future.

She also said there could be at least 1,200 children couch-surfing in the county, in addition to the known number of unhoused children. This means they may sleep with people they may not know well just to stay off the streets.

The number of known camps for people experiencing homelessness has also grown in Knox County, she said. Many are concentrated in West Knox County and North Knox County. She also said homelessness is continuing to grow outside the city.

"A lot of times, people want to stay close to family or to stay close to the resources they're comfortable with. Another reason — some folks are just afraid to be close to the city with larger services because of larger camps, and sometimes the perception of drug use and victimization," she said.

Historically, the camps in Knox County were smaller. However, she said more development and and increase in the number of unsheltered people have led to the size of those camps growing, causing them to be more visible to other members of the public.

Camps are usually defined when resource organizations send people to a particular area to try connecting people to services, she said.

"It's large enough that someone knows that it's there," Holden said.

Knox County Commission Discussion

Holden said that her office is planning to create a formal policy on homelessness, and it plans to work with the sheriff's office, nonprofits and the city of Knoxville on that policy.

She also said she plans to have a single, joint office take the lead on issues related to homelessness that would identify gaps in future needs and tell how to best meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness.

She also hoped to expand the number of day centers across the area where people can safely shower, do laundry, work at computer labs and find other kinds of resources. She specifically named the "Fig Tree," run by the Cokesbury United Methodist Church.

"There are no quick solutions or easy answers for a problem as complicated as homelessness, but I do believe that the work that we're doing right now ... is going to provide long-term benefits for the folks living here right now unhoused, and even more for our community as a whole," she said.

Law Director David Buuck said he was shocked that rent increased so quickly.

"Rent's really have gotten completely unaffordable," said Holden. "When you see apartments that have gotten $750 a month to $1,300 a month, people are just not going to be able to sustain that. So I think we're going to see a swing back at some point, but I think it's going to take a few months."

Commissioner Larsen Jay asked whether there were any improvements in issues related to homelessness regarding additional resources. Holden responded that a coordinated effort across the country has helped mobilize organizations. Specifically in Knox County, she said permanent supportive housing programs have been exceptionally helpful for people to recover from homelessness.

However, she said most people experiencing homelessness don't necessarily need permanent supportive housing.

"They just need affordable housing. They just need a place to live that they can afford," she said. "It's not so much that you need services, it's just that you need a place to live."

He later mentioned an old 10-year plan in Knoxville to address homelessness and asked how a new plan would be more effective. Holden said the joint initiative she mentioned could help have a positive impact on the issue.

Commissioner Rhonda Lee asked specifically how many children were experiencing homelessness, and asked if they were attending school. Holden said they categorize for "youth" only and said a significant number of them are attending school. 

She also asked for a specific number that she could share with people experiencing homelessness, where they could find resources. She said they should reach out to any organizations connected with KnoxHMIS, but Lee said every phone number leads to a waiting list.

Commissioner John Schoonmaker then said he was worried about how homelessness resource centers like the Fig Tree could impact nearby businesses. He claimed that businesses near one such center lost business because of "needles and human feces on the picnic table."

"The homeless have now come in and used the restrooms and proceeded to use drugs while in there," he said. "It's just something that you guys need to be aware of, that it's not going over well with the business community."

Holden responded by saying centers like Fig Tree didn't bring people experiencing homelessness to West Knoxville. She said it was there for longer than people are aware, but with the increase in homelessness, the issue is simply becoming more visible.

"I don't know that Fig Tree brought the problem, I think Fig Tree is trying to address the problem," she said. "We want to make it really clear to them what this kind of work looks like because you're right. It's not pretty."

She also said she believed ending services near businesses would not help the issue.

Schoonmaker later said that he believed some camps in areas across Knox County would only pop up after resource centers were built. Holden responded by saying she did not have the dates on that.

Commissioner Jay also asked if trends in Knox County housing correlated with trends in homelessness. Holden said they did correlate. She also specified that she was just looking at whether the cost of housing is affordable for average people, not whether housing is subsided to be considered "affordable housing."

"It's an affordable housing crisis," Holden said. "The homeless will always be with us, but what we are seeing right now is in large part an affordable housing crisis."

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