KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — During a brief Knox County Commission meeting, lasting approximately 30 minutes, county leaders voted on some key line items.
County leaders approved sending a letter to the Tennessee General Assembly asking for more mental health support in the county.
The city and county have previously conducted joint workshops to address mental health, substance abuse, behavioral challenges and homelessness in the area. Both city and county leaders agree that something must be done.
The resolution points to several shortfalls in the city and county. The primary one is that there is not enough capacity for long-term mental health care in the county. there are also few places to put people struggling with mental health crises if they do not have insurance.
The resolution said the Knox County jail spends an average of $17,000 each month on mental health medication for about 585 inmates, and an additional 52 inmates with serious mental health conditions.
Additionally, due to the lack of local mental health hospitals, the Knox County Sheriff's Office had to transport 253 people out of the county last year to receive mental care. The closest major mental health hospital is the State facility at Moccasin Bend in Chattanooga.
Commissioner Kyle Ward said that's a problem.
"The taxpayers are paying for an entire wing at the Knox County prison, to serve us all. And we spend millions of dollars a year just to medicate our prisoners," Ward said. "So, there's all these economic and social aspects affecting us here in Knox County."
In addition to the issues at the jail, the Knoxville co-responder program is facing a unique set of challenges. According to the resolution, the team has responded to 2,500 calls for service in the past two and a half years. The options for folks facing mental health crises are to be taken to the emergency room or given a list of links for mental resources online.
The resolution said about 40% are being transported to the emergency room and around 58% are able to stay in place and be linked to available resources.
Here's what the letter to the Tennessee General Assembly is asking for:
- Funding for a local long-term in-patient mental care facility.
- Data collection to examine the effectiveness of co-response and E-911.
- Funding for a 24/7 co-response team.
- Funding for a pilot rapid mobile response team to stop crises before they happen.
In addition to approving the mental health letter, the Knox County Commission also approved the resolution to seek regulation options for short-term rentals in the county.
It was Commissioner Carson Dailey's proposal, and he said the idea of regulation came from a wild party at an Airbnb in East Knox County.
"I want it to be a regulated business. As far as a business license, you need a business license. Number two, you need to have some type of control. If that's through Knox County or Airbnb, control is important. I want everybody who wants an Airbnb to have an Airbnb. If it hadn't been for the one or two bad apples, this would not have even had to come out," Dailey said.