KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville and Knox County have a new office meant to lead efforts to prevent and respond to housing instability and homelessness, according to a press release sent out on Monday.
The Knoxville-Knox County Office of Housing Stability will be led by Erin Read, who has worked at the Knox County Health Department since 2010. Most recently, Read worked at the KCHD as the Division Director of Substance Misuse Response.
"Our big goal is to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring," Read said.
They said the new office will work with the Knoxville-Knox County Homeless Coalition, as well as other housing agencies and homelessness service providers. They said they will also work with people who experienced homelessness to set a common vision with shared goals, "informed by a systems-level, evidence-based approach that is data-driven to keep families in their homes and connect people to housing opportunities and services."
The number one common and constant issue across the city and county is affordable and attainable housing.
"That's really what we're seeing is that a lot of people are slipping into homelessness, simply because they've been evicted," Read said. "They couldn't afford their housing anymore."
Over the last two years, Knoxville and Knox County spent more than $80 million responding to housing instability and homelessness. Around $14.5 million was specifically meant to help people who were unhoused, according to the release.
“Homelessness doesn’t acknowledge ZIP codes,” said Knoxville Mayor Kincannon in a press release. “Through active coordination and partnerships, we will leverage our community’s resources to maximize the positive impact on all residents, reduce duplication and streamline access to services regardless of where someone is staying.”
Shawn Griffith, from Knoxville's Office on Homelessness, is providing support to the new office along with personnel from Knox County Grants and Community Development.
“I look forward to working with local government, nonprofits, people with lived experience of homelessness, businesses, faith communities and philanthropies to set a course to make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring," said Read in a press release. "No single agency or sector commands all the needed resources but together we'll make durable progress."
Twelve years ago, the city and county tried to address similar issues through a ten-year "plan to end chronic homelessness." The plan focused on bringing together federal, state and local resources to lower homelessness within ten years.
That only lasted for six years.
Mayor Kincannon said this new joint plan centers on prevention.
"It's focused in on housing stability, so the best way to prevent homelessness is to help people avoid getting evicted. Because right now, a lot of times, rents are going up. And people's incomes aren't keeping pace," she said.
She also said collecting data about young people experiencing homelessness could be difficult.
"It's been very difficult to count our young people experiencing homelessness because a lot of times, sometimes they are feeling alienated and not really trusting to be counted. And sometimes, they're homeless, but they're going from house to house, couch-surfing, and so they might not feel like they're truly homeless even though couch-surfing is a form of homelessness," she said.
She asked young people experiencing homelessness to head to one of several locations on April 27, so the city could collect data about how homelessness impacts its younger population.
