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Council workshop reviews homelessness trends and warming-center safety protocols
Summary
City staff presented rising local homelessness counts, how the Office of Housing Stability (OHS) coordinates services through HMIS and coordinated entry, warming-center safety procedures and results from rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing programs.
The City Council workshop heard a detailed briefing on homelessness response in Knoxville and new safety protocols for warming centers.
Erin Reed, executive director of the Office of Housing Stability, told the council the office's vision is "a Knox community where homelessness is rare, brief, and nonrecurring." She said the city's point-in-time (PIT) counts and HMIS data show demand for services grew from just under 1,000 people in 2018 to more than 1,800 in 2025 and cautioned that PIT counts are an undercount of the unsheltered population.
Reed described the system's range of interventions, including case management, street outreach, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing (PSH), shelters and day centers. She cited recent program outcomes: HUD-funded rapid rehousing served 625 people in the last year…
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