KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Women experiencing homelessness in Knoxville will soon be able to find resources at another location in Fountain City.
Knox Area Rescue Ministries announced they were planning to open another building as part of its Serenity program, designed to help women experiencing homelessness. It will be named "Serenity Ministries North."
The program lasts 18 months and is biblically based, offering women a place to live and find resources in a Christian context.
KARM said around 46% of Knoxville's homeless population is made up of women, and said around 20% of those women say they are running away from domestic violence situations. The Serenity program has been full for around six years, and KARM said they have turned away women and children almost daily because they could not take them in.
The program serves up to 32 women and children. KARM said a donor committed $1 million to expand the program, and they also received a $250,000 grant.
“We’re so excited about what Serenity Ministries North means for women who want to be rescued from their crisis situation. Serenity Ministries North will give us additional beds and living spaces that will be used to help women live healthy, restored lives!”, said Cynthia Russell in a statement, Vice President of KARM’s Serenity Ministries.
The new building is located in the Fountain City area.
According to data from KnoxHMIS, Knoxville's system for tracking homelessness and providing resources, "the root causes of homelessness almost always come down to housing." It found that the leading causes of homelessness were an inability to find affordable housing and eviction.
"The reason some cities have more homelessness than others isn't about individual vulnerabilities. Cities with higher levels of homelessness don't generally have higher rates of drug use or mental illness, and most communities with higher poverty rates actually have lower levels of homelessness," it says. "In particular, as a rule, U.S. cities are more likely to have high rates of homelessness when their inhabitants face two things: higher rent and fewer available rentals."
The same system shows rent rates in Knox County have risen above the Tennessee and U.S. averages. It also says the median duration of homelessness has increased by around 40% since the fourth quarter of 2021. The median time someone spends homeless is around 182 days, according to KnoxHMIS data.