The following is a statement from Mayor John Cooper following Metro Council’s approval of his $50 million “Housing First” plan to address homelessness in Nashville:
“I am grateful to Council for overwhelmingly approving my $50 million plan to get our most vulnerable off the streets and into the stable housing. Homelessness is a decades-old challenge for Nashville, and I believe the size, scope and sophistication of this plan meets the magnitude of the problem.
“We have worked closely with national experts to carefully design a strategy based on a proven model that ramps up our ability to provide temporary housing, creates permanent supportive housing, and provides services like mental health care and addiction counseling to keep folks housed and safe.
“I want to thank the Homelessness Planning Council and the dozens of non-profit and community organizations throughout the city for their tireless work that has led us to this point. This is an enormous step for Nashville in our shared goal of becoming a city that works for every resident in every neighborhood.”