City workshop lays out homelessness response, warming-center safety checks and service outcomes

The city’s Office of Housing Stability told the council at a workshop that homelessness in the Knoxville area has risen sharply in recent years and that the city and its partners are expanding services and safety protocols to meet demand.

Aaron Reed, executive director of the Office of Housing Stability, told the council the annual point‑in‑time count and day‑to‑day service data show a significant increase in need: “In 2018 it was just under a thousand. In 2025 it was over 1,800,” he said, adding that PIT counts are known undercounts. He pointed to a fourth‑quarter 2025 HMIS snapshot showing 290 people became homeless in that quarter and said the most common driver cited in intake interviews was an inability to find affordable housing.

The presentation outlined the components of the homeless‑services system — street outreach, case management, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing (PSH), shelters and day centers — and summarized recent outcomes. Reed said HUD‑funded rapid rehousing served 625 people last year and 84% of those clients achieved permanent housing; transitional housing programs served about 52 people with an 81% permanent‑housing rate. He described PSH as an effective long‑term tool: “Ninety‑five percent of clients who go into PSH remain stably housed in the long term,” Reed said.

Cheryl Ball, the city’s chief policy officer, described a new, interdepartmental safety protocol the city is using when faith‑based or other community facilities operate as temporary warming centers. Ball said the process begins with an information checklist and a fire‑department inspection of the facility’s current use, followed by a life‑safety engineer review to set maximum occupancy, exit routes and overnight staffing plans. The city pays for those engineering reviews when facilities agree to host warming centers.

Reed described the community’s winter response and “white‑flag” thresholds that expand shelter capacity when weather becomes dangerous. He said partners provide security, transportation and meals; city personnel contract Relaunch to manage a day space and the Office of Housing Stability is working to reconfigure that space for better case coordination.

Officials told the council the city and federal grant programs together direct more than $9.7 million into homelessness services; staff said local providers and case managers have helped 6,357 people find housing since 2020. Still, Reed and others warned that rising inflow and longer durations of homelessness are keeping demand high. “The duration of homelessness has increased by quite a bit,” Reed said, noting that people are staying longer on caseloads because there is not enough deeply affordable housing for them to move into.

Council members asked about cooling‑center plans for summer extremes, the December opening and delayed certificate of occupancy at Relaunch’s new site, and the geographic concentration of day‑time services along North Broadway. Reed said staff are focusing resources on winter warming centers because cold conditions present the most immediate public‑health risk, but that the office will support communications and recruit potential cooling‑center sites for extreme heat.

The workshop closed with client testimony and success stories — including a young resident who described moving from foster care and shelters into rapid rehousing — and council members thanked staff and partner agencies for their work. The council did not take any formal votes during the workshop and presenters said they will return with additional updates and an annual report later in the year.