There have been times when Alex Smith railed against the Metro Nashville government. He has pounded the podium at public hearings, challenged department heads, rambled on well over his allotted speaking time, and protested on the streets.
But these days, the formerly homeless 27-year-old is working hand-in-hand with Metro departments and about a dozen nonprofits on a plan to reduce homelessness, especially among young adults between ages 18 and 24.
“From being homeless for eight-and-a-half years … I have heard a lot of promises and none of them has came through,” Smith said. “This promise right here, I don’t care if I’m the last person standing, this promise will come true.”
That promise is the “Key Action Plan” unveiled Tuesday (read the one-page plan highlights).
Smith spoke to a room of about 100 about how its action steps might move the needle on reducing youth homelessness.
“From somebody that basically came from the bottom of the barrel — to now, where I can peek my head over the barrel — it makes me so happy,” Smith said. “I want to be known as one of the guys who put a dent in Nashville homelessness. We might not chop it all the way down, but I want to put a big enough dent in it that stories can be told … all around the world.”
Smith — who lived at the sprawling “Camp Negley” tent village before it was dismantled this spring — says the Key Action Plan stands out from prior policies because so much of it can be pursued immediately.
“We can start today,” he said.
Expanding Shelters And Housing
The Key Action Plan arrives in response to a federal push to eliminate homelessness — a project that has focused grant funding on military veterans, then on families, and which service agencies anticipate will shift next toward youth.
“This plan puts us in a good position to receive the federal funding that we’ve all heard is coming,” said Mark Dunkerley, chief strategy officer for the Oasis Center for at-risk youth, a lead agency on the project.
Nashville began by assessing its challenge, finding that in a one-year span, 929 young adults experienced homelessness (likely an underestimate, local experts said). Of those, federal estimates say that they’ll spend an average of more than a year on the streets. And in that time, at least half will be assaulted, raped, or robbed.
But getting indoors is tough with high housing costs and too few emergency shelters. In Nashville, 40 youth shelter beds are typically occupied by young adults with disabilities, mental health diagnoses, or addictions.
“Clearly, 40 beds does not serve the needs of those populations,” said Lisa Stetar with the Crossroads Campus. “Our plan strives to increase beds by about 50 percent over the next year.”
The other most ambitious prong of the plan is to greatly increase the shelter space by creating the first youth-only shelter, with up to 80 more beds. Talks will begin soon with private foundations to try to fund it. Dunkerley said operations of such a shelter could cost $1 million annually, but a full study is pending.
Meanwhile, the plan calls for more permanent low-cost housing. Crossroads Campus plans a residential treatment program that pairs youth with rescued animals. And in the near-term, two nonprofits in the coalition are already setting aside subsidized apartments for young people transitioning off the streets.
One complex, run by the non-profit Urban Housing Solutions, is immediately next to the Oasis Center and will soon move in a resident who has been assisted there. Another proposal is to house homeless youth in Woodbine Community Development’s “shared living” homes.
“As a Nashvillian, I can think of no greater gap than affordable housing,” Stetar said. “We can’t end homelessness if we can’t provide safe, appropriate affordable housing to our young people.”
Action Goes Beyond Housing
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry echoed the urgency.
“Youth homelessness is often hidden. And in the past, we’ve ignored it,” she said. “In Nashville we study things a lot … I love that this is an actual action plan, that is going to have a real outcome and real impact on real people.”
Smith, the formerly homeless participant, said he supports other ideas in the plan like creating a travel fund to help reunite youth with their families.
The Key Action Plan also calls for training police officers who interact with homeless youth — which will begin at the North Nashville precinct — and education for non-profit agencies who may not be versed in helping youth who identify as LGBTQ (an estimated 27 percent of Nashville’s homeless youth population).
“It’s going to take awhile for the new shelter,” Smith said. “But everything else, we can do it right now.”