To better understand how to connect people experiencing homelessness in Nashville to the housing and services they need, Metro Nashville's Office of Homeless Services (OHS) is integrating their data collection system with Nashville's largest shelter provider, the Nashville Rescue Mission. Hundreds of men, women, and children use the Nashville Rescue Mission each night and better information about the people served at the Mission will allow more targeted, direct outreach to help move them toward housing.
Mayor Freddie O'Connell, a former chair of the HMIS Committee, has prioritized empowering the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Oversight Committee to ensure that Nashville's HMIS system is one of the best in the country. The HMIS should tell us who our homeless neighbors are, where they're going, what resources they are accessing, and what other needs may exist that are not currently being met by supportive services.
"You can't find solutions to something you can't actually see, so having this data will give us our clearest understanding ever of people experiencing and at-risk of homelessness in Nashville and that is hugely impactful," Mayor O'Connell said. "To truly wrap our arms around the work needed to do to prevent and resolve episodes of homelessness in Nashville, the city needs to understand the depth and breadth of the challenge. For the first time, we will be able to see a true picture of need in our community and ways we can do more to improve quality of life for all of us."
Nashville residents can see the data for themselves each month when OHS publishes its monthly public-facing report on the data gathered.
OHS Director April Calvin added, "This is the first time since the inception of the HMIS database in Nashville that we will be able to account for nearly 100 percent of all individuals using our shelter system. This will give us a true baseline of the number of unhoused residents in our city."
"The ability to share data about the guests staying at the Nashville Rescue Mission will help Metro and local care providers better understand the needs of people experiencing homelessness and coordinate together toward getting them into stable housing," said the Rev. Glenn Cranfield, President and CEO of the Nashville Rescue Mission.
Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
During Hunger and Homelessness Week, several Metro departments are providing resources to help Nashvillians in need.
Metro Social Services will offer their Thanksgiving Food Basket giveaway to the clients they serve each week.
All of Metro Action's programs and no-cost services are designed to improve the social and economic well-being of Davidson County residents. Metro Action prepares breakfast and lunch meals daily for the agency's preschool students who are enrolled in Head Start Centers around Davidson County. MAC also prepares dinner meals for the youth at the Bethlehem Center's After School Program during the school year.
The MAC Connects community resource portal is a listing of our community partners that we regularly engage in an effort to lessen the time it takes to find the valuable resources that are available in our community.
OHS is ready to serve the city's unhoused residents when cold weather hits the mid-state. Metro's Cold Weather Shelters open when temperatures drop below 32 degrees. OHS is adding several new features to the winter shelter this year:
- Real time alerts from the Metro MEANS alert system to ensure vulnerable populations are aware of when the winter shelter is open. Alerts are available via cell or landline phone call, text, email, or TTY. Sign up via the MEANS portal.
- Onsite triage: coordinated entry and housing triage services for immediate assessment and support
- Improved data collection to help OHS anticipate shelter needs
- Daily shelter data metrics via the OHS website
The latest point-in-time count showed the number of people experiencing homelessness in Nashville has slightly declined over the previous year. The point-in-time count is conducted across the nation each year on a single night in January. It reflects information about people accessing shelters and transitional housing as well as people who are unsheltered or sleeping rough. The count provides a snapshot in time of the city's houseless population.
Metro's next point-in-time count will be conducted in January 2025.
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