The Metro Homeless Impact Division's goal is to build a system that ends homelessness in Nashville. Ending homelessness does not mean that no person will ever lose housing again. Rather it means that the Nashville community has a system in place that prevents homelessness whenever possible. For people who lose their housing, an effective Housing Crisis Resolution System is capable to assist them swiftly by linking every person experiencing homelessness with housing and support services rapidly.
As a planning and coordination entity, the Homeless Impact Division focuses on collaborative efforts that support permanent solutions to homelessness. We are mainly working on building a Housing Crisis Resolution System.
One of our tasks is to support the implementation of Ordinance BL2018-1199 which is mainly focused on systems building to end homelessness. Nonetheless, as part of our planning and coordination activities, the Homeless Impact Division brings community partners together to implement solutions in gaps of services. Thus, our team ensures ongoing evaluation and discussion about the community's response to assist people experiencing homelessness during extreme weather situations with a main focus on cold weather sheltering. We also facilitated an encampment task force in spring of 2016. Based on recommendations from that encampment task force, the Homeless Impact Division has hired an outreach team for encampments, which is tasked to coordinate among providers from nonprofit, faith-based, and government agencies to link people living in encampments to services and help them remove barriers to housing.
In addition, the Homeless Impact Division staff works with other Metro departments to improve Metro-wide coordination around homelessness.
Cold Weather Information
Last year shelter providers and other organizations have come together to create a Cold Weather Community Response Plan. A description of the plan and collaboration is available online at www.coldweathernashville.com. We continue to work on improvements to our community's cold weather responses.
General Information about local day and night shelter programs
- Room In The Inn: 705 Drexel Street, Nashville, TN 37203, 615-251-9791
- Nashville Rescue Mission's Men's Guest Services: 639 Lafayette Street, Nashville, TN 37203-4226, 615-255-2475 Nashville Rescue Mission's Women's Guest Services: 1716 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. Nashville, TN 37208, 615-312-1574
- Community Care Fellowship, at 511 S 8th St, Nashville, TN 37206, 615-227-1953
Connecting people with support services
If you need to link people with direct services, we recommend that you connect people with a case manager at Metro Social Services by calling 615-862-6432 during office hours (Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.).
If you have general questions about homelessness or you would like to invite a representative from the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission to address your congregation, your neighborhood association, or any other group, please contact Judith Tackett at 615-880-2360.
Housing
The Metro Homeless Impact Division believes in assisting people with housing and the right levels of supports as quickly as possible. A well functioning Housing Crisis Resolution System utilizes all types of high-performing programs to give people options while our community works with them on housing solutions. The How's Nashville campaign, launched by the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission (now names the Homeless Impact Division) in 2013, focuses on permanent supportive housing for people experiencing literal homelessness. Literal homelessness describes people who sleep in shelters, on the streets, in encampments, in cars, and in other places not meant for human habitation.
Our initiatives and programs support solutions to homelessness:
- Homeless Management Information System
- Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program
- How's Nashville