Photo Credit: Reclaim Brookmeade Park and Greenway
The Tennessee Conservative [By Rebecca Scott] –
Homelessness is an issue plaguing cities across America, and Tennessee cities are no exception.
Knox County and the City of Knoxville have recently collaborated to create a new position titled the Executive Director of the Office of Housing and Stability. This director is responsible for collecting and assessing data on the homeless population and recommending possible solutions for assisting and relocating members of the homeless community.
Statistics out of Knox County indicate that the majority of homeless citizens – more than 50 percent – are on the street or in shelters due to the inability to afford rent, or because they have been evicted. As rental and housing costs have increased tremendously in recent years, some people are claiming they simply cannot afford to make rental or mortgage payments any longer.
Just under 25 percent of the Knox County homeless population cites violent or non-violent domestic situations that have necessitated leaving the home while having nowhere to go. While temporary housing and shelters are currently near or at capacity, there are few options available for those living on the streets.
Recent data out of Knoxville and the surrounding area states that only 1 in 3 homeless people are able to secure housing. On average, people spend 182 days on the streets in Knox County before they find a housing solution.
Meanwhile, in South Nashville, a previously disbanded homeless encampment has returned to its former location, establishing itself on both state and privately owned land.
When the encampment was formerly shut down, business owners in the area were grateful for a time of peacefulness. After experiencing break-ins, stealing, fires, and other criminal and disruptive behaviors, the removal of the encampment provided a reprieve for those working and living in the vicinity.
A manager of a business in the South Nashville neighborhood claims that, as soon as the area was cleaned up and workers were no longer present, the homeless community started making their way back onto the same properties. Now the area is again experiencing an uptick in crime as well as a mess of trash and overgrown brush that is reminiscent of the prior issues.
Metro Councilwoman Courtney Johnston says she is trying to work with landowners to keep their properties cleared so as not to be a temptation for the encampment to increase in number. She also says she is trying to assist in housing solutions for those living in the encampment.
As cities grapple with what to do with and for the homeless people in their communities, citizens are finding it increasingly difficult to work and live peacefully where homeless encampments inherently bring a level of chaos and concern for the surrounding community.
Solutions must take into consideration the landowners and businesses that are negatively affected by the homeless setting up camp on state and privately owned properties and creating unsanitary conditions for themselves and the towns and cities in which they live.
About the Author: Rebecca Scott is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Rebecca at Rebecca@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
2 Responses
Let’s get this right. This problem is far more prevalent in Liberal cesspools like Nashville and Memphis. However’ it is a problem in most areas to some degree.
Here in Bristol there are a lot of abandoned buildings that could be renovated to accommodate housing the street people. Take a large building, make minimal revisions, put a police sub-station in and give street people a choice between that and jail.
Now, unfortunately many people on the street are mentally ill and require assistance. Some are schizophrenic and cannot be indoors due to the illness.
Bolstering services to the mentally ill would help tremendously.
As for Nashville, they have no problem spending $2.1 billion on a new stadium for their lousy NFL team, but refuse to be proactive on their homeless problem.
Liberal Democrap scum. Just like NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco and the rest. They enrich themselves and ignore the people.
Hurry back, President Trump. MAGA 2024
Surprisingly, I agree with most of what you said. But the problem isn’t people on the left. It’s that prices are too high. People are working 2 jobs and can’t afford rent, nevermind a mortgage. People who need healthcare go without just to provide themselves or their family with basic necessities.
Homelessness happens more in all the cities you mentioned because of high population density. High population density leads to greater competition for resources, housing being one of them. Greater competition means that landlords can hike the prices of their for rent properties. The local barista, who makes minimum wage, and works another job plus a side hustle, is completely priced out of the apartments. All the locals are priced out. So unless someone who makes more than minimum wage comes in, or someone who is from a 2 income house, the place sits empty. And the locals either roommate up (if they’re lucky) or live in their cars (if they have one).
Prices are too damn high. Trump won’t fix that. Trump just wants to be a little dictator. Trump is the landlord in this situation. Has literally been a landlord before. I’m sorry he fooled you so completely. He doesn’t care about you. He never will. He never has. You could be shot in front of him and he’d waddle over your body without checking to see if you were okay. That’s the reality.
Democrats aren’t any better, of course. They just give the illusion that they care. Our system isn’t really 2 parties. It’s the same party, each with masks on, putting on a giant play where they manipulate the media and your emotions to get you to vote for them. Vote to save democracy. Vote to end child predation. Meanwhile they’re the ones at fault.
Oh and they’re not even fucking real, because zooming out reveals they’re marionettes. Marionettes for the oligarchy. Bleeding us all dry. Putting on circus’s and empty entertainment so that we are constantly fighting. Because we can’t realize we’re better together. We can’t realize that the common person, alone, is nothing, but together we outnumber them.
We just need to talk about human rights, and how everyone deserves them, and everyone deserves to have food, clean water, healthcare, safe housing, community, regardless of race, religion, sexuality, gender expression. No human or type of human is a monolith. We are all variations and each of us is unique. We are all just amalgamations of stories told by our ancestors, given life and breath and thought. And we all deserve to exist and love (keeping in mind developmental appropriateness of said love, and informed consent from both parties) however and whoever we want.
Humanity can be so beautiful. Love is a bridge, not a wall. All those borders were obsessed with? They’re imaginary. Arbitrary. Something some dude way long ago decided matter. But people can decide don’t matter, collectively.