With the increasingly depressing news of late about homelessness, and with too few local officials — except for Chattanooga city leaders — interested even in discussing it except to say “no” to affordable housing in their neighborhoods, a Sunday Page 1 story in the Chattanooga Times Free Press offered hope.
Its headline was straightforward: “Seeking permanent solutions.” It told of efforts underway in Chattanooga to find workable ways to help people while they are homeless, as well as ways to assist them in finding homes and staying in them.
One such effort is the “sanctioned” homeless camping site on city property at the intersection of 12th and Peeples streets. It was launched in the fall by the city of Chattanooga with a one-year $120,000 contract to a nonprofit called Help Right Here.
The fenced, gated and guarded campsite in early November had about 40 people in tents with about 15 more people on a waiting list. Already, the sanctioned camping area, with its availability of food, bathrooms, a shower and social workers, had helped more than dozen “residents” to move on to more positive circumstances, including either permanent living situations or reconnections with family members.
It is not just a giveaway. There are rules and chores. Even jobs.
The city also is in the process of converting the Airport Inn at 7725 Lee Highway, which officials purchased in 2021 for $2.79 million, into more than 70 units of permanent supportive housing. The city hopes it will be a model for similar housing projects in other parts of Chattanooga.
It better be. We say that because the devil is in the numbers.
About 50 sanctioned tent spots and 70 apartments will not even double the roughly 156 current permanent supportive housing units in the city — actually in the entire county.
And still it won’t be enough.
The Chattanooga community will need a little more than 500 more permanent supportive housing units to close the gap, according to research and city officials.
The number of homeless people in Hamilton County increased from 364 in January 2021 to 1,008 in January 2022, a spike of 177%, according to yearly counts. In our 11-county region, that number increased from 1,217 to 3,084 people.
Why? Pandemic and economic shutdowns, coupled with record rent and home price increases.
But the city of Chattanooga’s effort — strongly pushed by Mayor Tim Kelly — doesn’t seem to be finding any partners in other city governments or in Hamilton County’s commission room.
East Ridge sent police to Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp and Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson last month for a court order to close the Budgetel on Mack Smith Road, calling the hotel where people lived for weeks and months on end a “nuisance” with alleged criminal activity. The upshot was 700 people put out on the streets. Of those, donors in the community and the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition have had to pay to put up 170 adults and 108 children in other hotels.
Last week, the commission heard a plea from the coalition for funding help. Instead, the commission promptly recessed for the week without one word of discussion about it.
Perhaps that will change today.
But earlier this week, at least one commissioner’s deaf ear became vocal pushback.
Joe Graham, of Lookout Valley and District 11, showed up Monday at a Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission meeting to fight a hotel-to-housing conversion plan at the Knights Inn at 3655 Cummings Road. After he spoke against the change, planners agreed to delay considerations for three hotel conversions to create affordable housing until early next year.
Graham said he and others in his community are “adamantly against” converting the Knights Inn into apartments.
“We’re terrified it will end up like East Ridge,” Graham said, alluding to the Budgetel.
And he made it clear a deferral would not be enough to suit him.
“We’re asking you to turn it down,” he said of the zoning change request. “I’ll come back.”
You know — we all know — affordable housing is what we need. Every leader says so — until it’s in their, or apparently anybody’s, back yard.
Carey Thornhill, the chief executive of Thornhill Management Group which is seeking to convert the Knights Inn as well as the Motel 6 at 7707 Lee Highway and the America’s Best Inn at 7717 Lee Highway, said the changes are not intended to make “transitional housing.” Rather, he said, rooms would be remade into mostly studio apartments for workforce housing.
“We believe there’s a huge housing need,” he said, adding that upgrading “blighted motels” provides great housing. He said rents could come in at from $900 to $1,000 a month, though that may change by the time the units are ready to be leased in late 2023.
That was the plan more than once for the East Ridge Budgetel. The problem was that apparently neither the Budgetel owners nor the city of East Ridge kept their parts of the bargain.
The Planning Commission staff recommended deferring a decision on Thornhill’s request for 60 days. In the meantime, the Chattanooga City Council will be discussing a possible change to a zoning ordinance that may preclude the need for developers to rezone motel properties for conversion into apartments, which would affect all possible motel conversions by any owner.
What a concept. Take down some of the barriers to affordable housing.
Just watch out for the NIMBYs — the not-in-my-back-yarders of every community.
Perhaps there is a silver lining to our homeless woes? We’re hopeful.