The city of Chattanooga will make an emergency allocation of up to $49,500 to fund temporary shelter for dozens of people who were displaced after a homeless encampment downtown was shut down earlier this month.
More than 130 homeless men and women were told they had to relocate from a lot behind a city-owned wellness center on East 11th Street, saying the land was contaminated after years of being used as a waste dump decades ago.
The city originally provided $15,000 to the Chattanooga Community Kitchen to reopen an emergency cold weather shelter for two weeks to house people, but that mantle will now be carried by the Salvation Army, which is receiving this second allocation. The kitchen has housed an average of 60 people per night, according to the city.
Employees in Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke’s office briefed the City Council during a strategic session on Tuesday afternoon, proposing that the city extend temporary shelter to those individuals displaced by the action until June 30 for an estimated cost of $750 a night.
“That total cost was calculated assuming that all 60 people live there for the duration,” said Stacy Richardson, Berke’s chief of staff. “We anticipate scaling that down over time as people are moved out and into permanent housing.”