Proposals for a large homeless shelter in Chattanooga are back on the table — and the city’s elected officials have mixed feelings.
The Chatt Foundation, one of the largest service providers to homeless people in the city, has identified four potential locations within several blocks of its downtown campus. Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly’s administration isn’t convinced a large shelter would be effective, with a spokesperson saying by email that it may siphon resources away from other programs.
But for some members of the Chattanooga City Council — who would eventually be in charge of approving any rezoning or funding requests for the proposals — a large shelter is crucial for the city. They say it’s a missing piece of infrastructure. But some also say the process to get one approved in a specific location could be politically difficult.
Chatt Foundation CEO Baron King said in an interview that this is the first time he has put together several options for the city to look at, though he has been working for years to get shelter funded that would accept people without the barriers of some other locations, such as mandating that residents have identification, sober up, pass a background check and arrive with no pets.
The process of getting such a shelter to the forefront of government officials’ minds has been difficult, King said.