As Chattanooga officials work to inform about 100 homeless people who have set up tents on a downtown lot they’ll need to relocate, city council members said Monday they’re looking at several options to address homelessness, including additional temporary or emergency housing.
“I’d like to see us do things instead of talking about doing things,” Councilman Jerry Mitchell said. “I can’t see an alternative to not finally pursuing something that would at least give some temporary housing.”
Now that the property in the 600 block of East 11th Street behind a city-owned wellness center is known to be toxic, officials are telling about 100 homeless people who have set up tents there that they’ll need to move over the next several days. Because the lot is just a block away from the Chattanooga Community Kitchen, it’s a convenient place to live with close access to the support services offered by a handful of nearby agencies and nonprofit organizations.
The problem is that staff in Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke’s office recently revealed the soil in the lot itself is hazardous to human health after a long history of the site being used as a waste dump for a variety of old, local industries. Of particular concern are the remaining contaminants from a gasification plant, which polluted the area with coal tar and foundry sand.
Berke’s office has coordinated with the Community Kitchen to reopen the organization’s emergency cold weather shelter for two weeks to house those who call the polluted lot home while a “task force” of caseworkers and volunteers connect them with the services they need.