Mayor Andy Berke wants to use federal coronavirus stimulus funding to create a low-barrier homeless shelter in Chattanooga.
At a virtual meeting Tuesday, the mayor’s office presented a plan to the City Council to use more than $1 million to establish a low-barrier homeless shelter – emergency temporary housing that limits the conditions imposed for people to get shelter.
The money would come from Round 2 federal community development block grant funding, provided through the Department of Housing and Urban Development in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a news release from Berke’s office, the proposal comes after “the federal government has failed to act for more than 200 days to provide additional relief to families or local governments that are struggling because of the pandemic.”
“Hotels are the safest, quickest option for emergency shelter during COVID-19, but the costs add up,” said Tyler Yount, Berke’s director of special projects. “Using these resources to purchase a hotel could mean more efficient use of our long-term funding, more nimbly responding to the ongoing effects of the pandemic and increasing the speed at which we can get more people permanently housed.”