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The homeless population in Nashville is a predominant issue that is affecting the overall quality of life in the state of Tennessee. People experiencing homelessness are in danger because they do not have the proper shelter to live comfortably without the worry of theft, bad weather conditions, health problems, and the threat of being removed from camps by the government. They could be taken away from friends and family without any prior warning and be dumped back out onto the streets without anywhere else to go. What should the government do with these people? Should they let the people live, even though it is technically illegal for them to do so, or should they continue to destroy these camps? People are divided on which strategy is most effective, but the Nashville community cannot continue to let the government be indecisive. Homelessness has significant problems within the community, and society is damaged because of it.
According to the United States Council on Homelessness, “Tennessee had an estimated 7,256 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)” (usich.gov) which suggests that we have a prevalent issue that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Around 2,500 of these people are in Nashville (fox17.com). Nashville has more homeless people than any other city in Tennessee. How should we combat homelessness? Do we need to build more houses? Should we focus on sheltering the homeless until they get back on their feet? In Praying with Our Feet, Lindsey Krinks writes of a quote from Clemmie Greenlee, “The people on the streets aren’t homeless. They’re houseless. They’re not [all] lazy. They’re working double shifts at jobs that don’t pay the bills!… you gotta understand that the root cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing and the lack of inadequate wages (Krinks, pg.12, Praying with our Feet, Brazos Press)” she is conveying to the reader that homelessness is not usually due to laziness, but to a lack of metaphorical safety nets for certain people. Someone could work as hard as they can and still end up on the streets because they messed up on one occasion. No matter how much they make, they may not be able to find a decent place to live, or even find transportation to their job.
What can the church do to help combat homelessness? According to Open Table Nashville, 35% of the cause of homelessness is sudden job loss. (OpenTableNashville.org) Most establishments will not hire an employee without a home address. The Christian Church should feel obligated to partner with organizations such as Room in the Inn and Open Table Nashville. Room in the Inn is an organization that allows homeless people a place to stay free of charge when it is too cold to sleep outside. Every night in which the temperature is below twenty-eight degrees, Open Table sends volunteers to drive buses through downtown Nashville to minister to people experiencing homelessness, as well as bring them to the warming shelters as well as overflow shelters opened by the city. If churches encourage their visitors to donate or volunteer, this would greatly help these organizations. If a church is financially able, it can give the city the money to open more warming shelters, allowing more people to stay warm at night. This will surely decrease the amount of friends that are lost in the cold due to the negligence of people who claim to be Christ-followers.
Homelessness is an issue that can be reversed for the average homeless person. However, what about people who are chronically homeless? When people are chronically homeless, it is generally because of a physical or mental disability that makes them unable to do any physical work or labor. This means that they are viewed as essentially worthless by society. Should we just disregard these people? The obvious answer is no. Organizations such as VOA (veterans of America) and the HRW (Housing Rights Watch) are already pushing to protect the disabled homeless population. They are advocating for disabled veterans to receive cheaper housing. When the HRW states, “Homelessness disproportionately affects persons with disabilities. In a vicious circle, disability often leads to homelessness and homelessness, in turn, creates or exacerbates impairments and additional barriers”, (HousingRightsWatch.org) they are explaining how we are discouraging people from serving in our military because we put them into a vicious cycle of chronic homeless after risking their lives for our country. If the Nashville government were to construct a plan where taxes increased just slightly, homeless veterans would have a second chance. People would be more open to a tax increase if it were for those who fought for freedom.
While a national tax raise would be helpful to support veterans, taxes are high enough currently, and this plan would be very difficult to initiate. I believe in the implementation of the Cold Weather Community Response Plan (coldweathernashville.com). This plan will activate when the National Weather Service’s official local forecast is predicted to reach 28 degrees Fahrenheit or below, and the Metro overflow shelter will begin receiving guests when primary community partner shelters reach maximum capacity. (coldweathernashville.com) Metro also believes in this plan, and they have already attempted to give support to organizations who have helped execute this plan such as Open Table Nashville. (OpenTableNashille.org)
When the National Alliance to End Homelessness revealed, “Males are far more likely to experience homelessness than their female counterparts. Out of every 10,000 males, 22 are homeless. For women and girls, that number is 13. Gender disparities are even more evident when the focus is solely on individual adults (the most significant subgroup within homelessness). The overwhelming majority (70 percent) are men.”, (endhomelessness.org) they emphasize that there must be a reason why men are left without housing much more often than women. There are quite a few theories as to why this may be. First, it has to be taken into consideration that traditionally, men are generally more ambitious in their career field and are willing to put more on the line to make lavish amounts of money, but in turn, they are more likely to lose what they have; in a general aspect, women tend to be content with the position they hold in their workplace instead of risking what they have to make more money. Men are more likely to be veterans, and veteran homelessness is a significant problem in Nashville. Men are usually less likely to receive treatment for mental health issues, which can lead to substance abuse, alcoholism, family abuse, etc.
One of the biggest problems the homeless population faces not only nationally, but specifically in southern states such as Tennessee is racial disparity. The Metro Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) declares that despite only being 29.9% of the population, black people make up 63.3% of the homeless population in Nashville. Why is the community of color so disproportionately affected by this problem? So what if race plays a factor? Why should it matter? There are multiple reasons, including inequity in education and lack of access to quality food and recreation in low-income areas where many communities of color live. Also, you must take into consideration that there are still certain individuals who may have a genuine hatred for people of color. Because of subconscious racism, people tend to feel more comfortable with people of their race than people of other races, even without racist intent.
Works Cited:
- https:www.voa.orgsearch?q=Protecting disabled homeless people
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