NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As Nashville continues to close homeless encampments like Brookmeade Park, we’re now learning how the city prioritizes which encampments need to close sooner than later.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates was invited last week by the Metro Homeless Impact Division to watch outreach coordinators assess the risk of one specific encampment.
Cherri Godwin was the guide through a narrow path surrounded by trees as she took notes along the way. Godwin pointed out how some of the tents were well maintained, considering what she had seen in other encampments.
“This is a little bit more organized, but I still see it as a four because there is open food, open things out here,” Godwin said.
These numbers may not mean much to you, but for Godwin and MHID, it could mean closing this encampment immediately or at least soon.
Factors include the number of people in the encampment, unusually high fatalities, proximity to nearby infrastructure, dangerous conditions (near highly traveled right-of-way, prone to flooding), and excessive garbage.
Scores are shared between community partners before collectively deciding which encampment is closed next. Even if this encampment falls low on the priority list, residents can still be placed in homes as they become available.
“It’s important for everyone to be housed, but some people need to be housed sooner than others,” Godwin said.
Out of respect for some residents escaping domestic violence, NewsChannel 5 Investigates agreed not to disclose this specific location.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates met with one resident who agreed to speak if we concealed her identity, but she says it's been exhausting living on and off in this encampment for the past 10 years.
“People, they judge you out here. They automatically assume you’re on drugs or you’re an alcoholic or a prostitute and that’s not true,” she said.
There were as many as 17 local agencies offering outreach in the last two months, and she said some are tired of empty promises.
“People and organizations say they want to help, but they don’t. They come in and you never see them again,” she said.
Whether it’s the cameras present, reporters nearby, and outreach workers offering help, many of the residents have seen much of this before.
At one point we could hear Godwin asking if others were interested in housing and the answer was, “I’m all right.”
The promise has never been that everyone we saw will get housing or even want it. That’s the hope.
What people like Godwin can promise is that she and her team will be back.
Every week, as long as it takes.
“Even if you can’t put them somewhere immediately, just the fact that you show up. Have you ever had someone just show up in your life? They just need somebody to show up,” Godwin said.
MHID claims to have helped more than 1,600 people find housing over the past year with 87% still living in these homes. Back in January, outreach teams counted 2,129 people living on the streets of Nashville. A more than 11% increase from 2022, but they say it's primarily because the cold temperatures forced some to engage with outreach coordinators in shelters.
April Calvin is the current director of MHID and soon-to-be director of the new Office of Homeless Services. She says most of those housed over the past year with Phase I of their initiative went into temporary gap housing.
“Some of them went into permanent gap housing and some went into other support services or recovery housing options,” Calvin said.
As Calvin explained, it may be housing first, but it’s not housing only.
“Increased quality of life for individuals living outside, increases the quality of life for Nashville’s housed citizens as well,” Calvin said.
The term “housing surge” was often used to describe what happens when an encampment is closed, and multiple people are looking for homes all at once.
Calvin said they give residents 30 days’ notice before an encampment is closed. In those 30 days, case managers with MHID and other community partners ask each resident what type of living situation works best for them: Apartment, home, treatment facility or temp housing, etc.
Residents are given tubs to help pack up their belongings. Transportation is offered, and case managers are assigned to make sure people get the wraparound services need to stay in their homes.
Referrals are made for available housing regardless of sobriety, income, criminal records, treatment, or service engagement.
Everything from addiction treatment and classes on how to live independently are all a part of Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s $50 million commitment to end homelessness.
MHID says they prioritize these encampments because they lack the resources to close each encampment all at once. Calvin applauds Mayor Cooper’s commitment to ending homelessness but says the next phase is having Metro Council approve all the contracts for support services meant to keep people in their homes.
Metro Council is expected to vote later this month.
