Metro Council approves $50 million Homelessness Response Plan

By Mary Alice Royse

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    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — Metro Council approved several resolutions Tuesday night that is part of Mayor John Cooper’s $50 million plan to get vulnerable Nashvillians off the streets.

Four resolutions were proposed and approved at the council meeting to help determine how the money would be used to fight homelessness in Nashville. The $50,000,000 is from the American Rescue Plan Act funds and will be used in the following ways:

1. $25,000,000 will go to the Metro Development and Housing Authority to provide low-cost loans to developers for the addition of deeply housing units, with loan proceeds to address affordable housing and homeless services.

2. $9,000,000 to the Metro Homeless Impact Divison of Metro Social Services to build capacity in Housing First case management services, including establishing Assertive Community treatment teams.

3. $9,000,000 to the Metro Homeless Impact Divison of Metro Social Services for temporary interim gap housing

4. $7,000,000 to the Metro Homeless Impact Division of Metro Social Services to establish a low-barrier housing collective and to fund competitive grants for support services.

Mayor John Cooper will sign the legislation Wednesday, approving the $50 million federally funded Homelessness Response Plan.

I am grateful to Council for overwhelmingly approving my $50 million plan to get our most vulnerable off the streets and into the stable housing. Homelessness is a decades-old challenge for Nashville, and I believe the size, scope and sophistication of this plan meets the magnitude of the problem.

“We have worked closely with national experts to carefully design a strategy based on a proven model that ramps up our ability to provide temporary housing, creates permanent supportive housing, and provides services like mental health care and addiction counseling to keep folks housed and safe.

“I want to thank the Homelessness Planning Council and the dozens of non-profit and community organizations throughout the city for their tireless work that has led us to this point. This is an enormous step for Nashville in our shared goal of becoming a city that works for every resident in every neighborhood.

– Mayor John Cooper

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