By Lauryn Lovett, WBIR
Knoxville goes through a process every five years developing its Consolidated Plan. Part of the plan decides how federal funding will be spent on a variety of community-based initiatives.
Erin Read, the Director of the Office of Housing Stability, said public comment is needed to determine what the city should focus on. She said some funds must be spent on projects addressing affordable housing and homelessness.
“We have other, more specific, plans that really guide local policy and spending and one of those is Attainable Resilient Knoxville. So, this is the city’s plan for increasing housing stock to match the population and the jobs that we have in our community. Another smaller plan is the Office of Housing Stability’s Strategic Plan to address homelessness,” Read said.
The Knox Community Dashboard on Homelessness is the leading cause of homelessness this quarter was an inability to find affordable housing, followed by eviction.
Justice Knox is a local advocacy organization that works with those at the lowest income level. Mary Groh, a long-time volunteer leader, said it’s important for people to show up to these meetings and have their voices heard.
“You want to make sure that people feel that they have been heard. They understand the problems, whether they are service providers or people who need the services, who need the housing, who need the homeless services. They’re in the best position to help make those decisions about where those dollars should go,” Groh said.
Meetings will be held on Sept. 4 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and on Sept. 10 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Public Works Service Center. They will also be held on Zoom.
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