KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Story Courtesy of WVLT) – Knox Area Rescue Ministries has announced a new shelter model that leaders say will help more people exit homelessness, but advocates are raising concerns about whether the timing is right amid rising housing costs and long waiting lists for affordable housing.
Under the new model, guests receive 28 emergency days to stabilize immediate crises and connect with services. After that period, they can stay as long as needed if they engage with case management at least once every 30 days.
KARM leaders said the change addresses what they called a “permanent emergency shelter” approach that allowed some guests to stay indefinitely without case management support.
“We’ll have 28 emergency days, but I don’t want people to get hung up on the 28 days,” said Celia Lively, senior director of community engagement at KARM. “That is just 28 days to stabilize the crisis. That is not 28 days to find housing, 28 days to move on. You can stay as long as you want after that, as long as you are minimally engaging with services.”
“The number of people accessing homeless services on an average day has grown almost two-fold over the past eight years,” Read said. “This is partly because we have more people becoming homeless, but it’s also because people are remaining homeless longer.”
Read said KARM’s approach builds in opportunity and accountability.
“I believe that no one should walk through KARM’s doors without at least being asked whether they have a case manager, whether they are on a path out of homelessness,” Read said.
“They can stay as long as they need to, as long as they are engaging in services,” Read said.
Anthony Jackson, a homeless advocate and lay leader at Vestal United Methodist Church, said his concern is not the model itself but the timing of its implementation.
“CAC announced in February that there was 10,000 families that were on a waiting list for affordable housing,” Jackson said. “We’ve got housing that has tripled in a lot of cases, utilities that are continuously going up. It appears gas is going up, groceries are going up, churches are having to do food banks for working people. The model is fine. I just think terrible timing.”
“If we have a homeless population that is doubled, and if you see ordinary working people that are having to go to churches for food, I don’t think that’s the time that you enforce stricter policies,” Jackson said.
Yvonne Yates, a homeless advocate, said 28 days is not enough time for people to obtain necessary identification, address mental health or addiction issues, or secure housing.
“A lot of these people don’t have IDs because they can’t get a birth certificate,” Yates said. “You have to get a birth certificate if they’re from out of state. Plus, you have to have an address to send your information to. Same thing with social security. So it’s a process.”
“Their mode is survival,” Yates said. “I don’t see how 28 days is enough time.”
KARM has 330 beds and sees roughly 150 new guests every month. Lively said the average length of stay is 14 to 22 days per year, not consecutively.
The shelter has created a wellness track for guests with higher needs who may not fit a traditional path to housing.
Jason Hamilton, lead men’s care coordinator at KARM, said case managers will work one-on-one with guests to develop personalized plans.
“If that takes six months or a year, there’s no limit on that,” Hamilton said. “We’re going to be working with them, developing the best plan we can and taking the different routes that we need to.”
Leeann Badgett, co-pastor at Signs and Wonders Ministry and its outreach arm Reaching Across, said she supports engagement requirements but questions whether the approach fits all situations.
“Everybody is homeless or addicted or in a bad situation due to something that has traumatized them in their past,” Badgett said. “They need mental help, and they need to get stable before they’re just thrown into an apartment or a house.”
Badgett, who experienced homelessness herself, said she would like to see resource centers offering life skills training, hygiene facilities and computer access.
Read said housing inventory is increasing at every price point in Knoxville and Knox County, with rent growth zeroing out. She said both Mayor Indya Kincannon and Mayor Glenn Jacobs are committed to expanding housing stock.
For guests with severe mental illness, addiction or disabilities, Read said KARM has created a pathway with the new Summit health clinic within its walls to provide customized care coordination and case management focused on placing clients in appropriate settings.
Lively said the model has been in development for years, with KARM researching similar approaches in Denver, Atlanta, Toledo, Kansas City and Indianapolis.
KARM conducted a guest survey last year in which 77% of respondents asked for access to case management, though less than 40% were accessing it.
Last year, KARM housed nearly 200 people. The shelter also diverted 100 people from spending even one night at KARM through its shelter diversion program.
Lively said incremental changes over the past year, including assigning beds and requiring guests to maintain consistent presence, increased the average length of stay from 14 days to 24 days and helped improve housing outcomes.
Meals and medical services remain available to everyone in the community regardless of bed status at KARM.
