The Supreme Court recently sided with states like Tennessee that have laws banning people from sleeping in public spaces. While Metro Nashville has cleared some homeless encampments, it’s spending millions of dollars every year to place people in temporary and permanent housing.
1. How does the Supreme Court ruling impact how Metro Nashville treats people experiencing homelessness?
A: It might not be much of an impact. Tennessee makes it a felony to camp on state owned property.
Metro Nashville’s homeless encampment strategy is while it doesn’t endorse sanctioned encampments, it also doesn’t arrest or fine people generally speaking, for sleeping outdoors.
Metro Nashville has cleared out homeless encampments (in Wentworth-Caldwell park, Hermitage and others) as they have became a sort of public nuisance, taking up public spaces. But they usually offer people other places to go, including its first permanent supportive housing development, Strobel House, which will open July 18 with 90 beds.
We asked Metro whether the ruling will change anything in its homeless policies and a spokesperson for the Office of Homeless Services essentially said no. They don’t typically arrest people who camp on public property and will continue to try to get unhoused people into housing, both temporary and permanent.
What could have happened if the Supreme Court ruled the other way and said, you can’t have laws that ban people from sleeping in public spaces, is Metro wouldn’t be able to clear out encampments, people could just continue to take over the spaces.
2. How much is Metro spending on homeless services?
A: At its most recent count in January, Metro had almost 2,100 homeless, which is slightly less than last year. About 600 people are unsheltered, people living outside, on the street. Those are the people you see camping, there’s another approximately 1,500 housed homeless.
Metro has a new Office of Homeless Services which has a first-year budget of $5.5 million this year, that includes $2.2 million for salaries for 32 staffers. It’s the first year Metro has a standalone homeless services office.
On top of that annual budget, Metro is spending a one-time $50 million sum from the federal government on homeless services, including the $35 million spent on Strobel House.
So, while Metro has cleared out encampments, and the Supreme Court says they can continue to do so, they’re also putting a lot of money into housing people who need it.