NEWS BRIEFS

Bill submitted to create separate Department of Housing and Homelessness

On Oct. 26, a group involved in homeless services held a rally and press conference pushing for an independent department of housing and homelessness, out from underneath Metro Social Services. BL2021-971 would do just that. It was heard on its first reading on Nov. 2 and is on the Metro Council agenda again for December. It would take a total of three readings to pass.

It’s something that advocates have pushed for for years, and Councilperson Freddie O’Connell, sponsor of the bill, shared at the end of the conference that he doesn’t anticipate push back from the mayor because it was the mayor’s idea.

“It is clear that the Metro Homeless Impact Division needs a home outside of Metro Social Services, which has a huge sprawling mission, and we need a laser focus on providing housing for people who do not have housing today,” he says.

Later, Andrea Fanta, spokesperson for the mayor’s office, expressed concern that this legislation could be “counterproductive” to the work already being done to alleviate homelessness.

“Our concern is that creating yet another office would needlessly add to the bureaucracy and detract from the ongoing approach,” Fanta wrote in an email.

“Having the Metro Homelessness Impact Division under the city’s Social Services department, as is now the case, allows for a more effective and seamless delivery of the wraparound services that are often essential in getting our unhoused residents into permanent housing. In particular, the two teams are currently integrated in our COVID+ homeless shelter and our encampment emergency responses.”

O’Connell says it would take very little new funding to make this proposed transition, and the staff around the Barnes Housing Trust Fund and Metro Homeless Impact Division would simply be moved over to the new potential department.

Shirley Marks with Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, says the organization has lobbied three different times in favor of this separate department.

“Right now Mayor Cooper has two staff members in his office that deal with The Barnes Fund and with affordable housing. But what happens when there's a different mayor? Will all of this go away? If there is a separate office of housing and homelessness, the work on affordable housing will continue,” Marks says.

Jay Servais named interim director of Metro Homeless Impact Division

Nashville Office of Emergency Management chief Jay Servais was named the interim director of Metro Homeless Impact Division on Oct. 29.

This announcement came ten days after Judith Tackett stepped down from the position. Joseph Pleasant, spokesperson for the Office of Emergency Management, didn’t specify an amount of time that Servais will stay in the role, and added that his duties will be split between both MHID and OEM.

As OEM chief, Servais managed the COVID-19 emergency shelter for those experiencing homelessness located at The Nashville Fairgrounds. He plans to take that experience into his new role.

“In the new role is the continued total care for those that are experiencing homelessness, not just feeding and finding them a place to lay down, but providing them the resources and having partners come on board to have a total care. So, anywhere from their medical needs to their social security card to, you know, the wraparound services that it takes to get somebody back in a direction where they can be successful for themselves,” Servais told The Contributor.

He grew up volunteering with his father, who was heavily involved in The Salvation Army, and other various ministries in Nashville. As a teen, he served meals to those living in the encampment under Jefferson Street Bridge, which has been subject of a concentrated effort to rehouse those living there in the last year. Servais’ own career has centered around a different kind of public service, as a firefighter and Tennessee Guardsman, but says he’s the fourth generation in his family involved in serving people experiencing homelessness in some capacity.

“I remember Friday nights under the Jefferson Street Bridge with my dad and watching him be able to assign caseworkers and and feed and fellowship with those experiencing homelessness and basically providing hope. And help,” Servais said.