Nashville officials outline plan for Old Tent City encampment, stress housing, outreach and safety

April Calvin, director of the Office of Homeless Services, told the Homelessness Planning Council on April 9 that the city is preparing a phased effort to move people from the encampment known as Old Tent City into interim and permanent housing while prioritizing safety and outreach.

Calvin said the city rebuilt its vendor arrangements in January and that “these units are not being paid for while people are not living there,” emphasizing the department’s intent not to waste housing dollars for empty units. She described a mix of interim options under consideration — bridge housing, single-room-occupancy units, shared housing, recovery programs, family reunification and medical respite — and said outreach teams have been engaging residents at the site for six to eight months.

Council members and committee members pressed for more quantitative details. An HPC member identified as Andy asked whether there were counts for transitional options; Calvin said the Department can provide numbers of available beds and units per option and confirmed the by-name list for Old Tent City is 25 people. She noted some interim options, such as Community Care Facility (CCF), operate on a per-diem basis and therefore are not held vacant in advance.

Calvin outlined a set schedule for engagement and logistics: the outreach team is at the encampment Monday through Friday from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; the Office will hold two calls weekly with interim housing locations (Mondays and Fridays); an Encampment Care Coordination call will begin the Friday after the meeting; and weekly resource fairs are planned at the site every Thursday. She said property-owner coordination meetings occur every Tuesday, and outreach-community touchpoints are held Wednesdays.

On communications, Calvin said the Office prioritized notifying people who live at the encampment before broader stakeholder notification and will deliver handwritten notices and personal outreach from case managers in a trauma-informed way. She said a 60-day notice was issued to align with advocacy groups and any pending state bills.

Calvin and others addressed several operational concerns raised by HPC members: - Storage: Metro maintains a nondisclosed storage location for large or dangerous items; the Office will offer totes for personal belongings but not individual paid storage units. - Pets: Outreach is coordinating with SafePaw and Metro animal-control partners to ensure pets are vaccinated and cared for. - RVs and campers: The Office is collecting registration and operability information to determine relocation options; in some cases individuals have declined units and left vehicles behind, with that decision recorded in writing.

On permanent housing and subsidies, Calvin said voucher availability is uncertain; she noted the city receives a small number of vouchers per month from MDHA and that those alone are insufficient. She described ongoing conversations about creative options — shared housing at about $350 per month for some disability-income-eligible households, potential use of ARPA funds, and nontraditional operating subsidies — and noted the city invited Austin leaders to share their approach of pairing city, county and philanthropic funding to scale permanent supportive housing.

Council members asked for a follow-up with precise counts of units per interim option, timelines for move-in dates and how pets and RVs would be handled. Calvin said move-in dates were expected soon for people who are ready and that the Office will draft an after-action report after the operation; the first after-action topic will be timing and notification practices.

The council did not take a formal vote on the encampment strategy during the meeting.