Today I want to introduce a nine-part radio series I am co-producing called In My Place, which aims to provide information and education on housing and homelessness with a specific focus on Nashville’s approach to homelessness much like my columns here do.
At its core, In My Place is a housing show that takes a deep dive into the different aspects of what happens when we do not have access to housing for everyone in our communities. Frankly, without access to housing, homelessness won’t end. Yet the lack of investment in low-income housing has become a national crisis, and listeners of our first episode may recall that for every $100 increase in the median monthly rent, cities can likely expect an increase in homelessness of about 9 percent, according to a 2020 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
This may spell doom for a booming city like Nashville. But the reality also is that cities with coordinated efforts and a focus on actual, long-term solutions have shown promising results and were able to stem the tide. Nashville has invested $50 million in dedicated federal funds to reduce homelessness. In addition, the city has more than doubled its local budget to address homelessness. In My Place focuses on overall concepts and approaches to homelessness and examines, in a hopeful way, what works.
When Tasha A.F. Lemley and I developed the show, we wanted to create a space that answers the question of what needs to happen to solve homelessness. Our goal was to take this opportunity and provide a solid overview of what makes homelessness such a complex issue. Each episode tackles a different aspect of what it means when people lose housing, why they lose housing, and how governments, nonprofits, and the private market try to tackle the homelessness crisis. But we also wanted to offer hope and show successes and what it means on an individual level when people are able to transition out of homelessness.
Tasha and I settled on the name In My Place because we liked the dualism of its meaning. The literal meaning refers to a person finding their place. But being “put in one’s place” also refers to displacement, which is a common experience for our unhoused neighbors.
The show is divided into three segments. First you hear from national experts whom we invite to frame a specific topic. Once the topic is discussed, we invite local guests to talk about their work in Nashville, what they do, the difficulties of their work and how they implement solutions. The final segment provides a last word from a guest commentator with lived experience who has been listening to the show.
In our first three episodes, we covered homelessness research and what it means to be unhoused, the Housing First philosophy, and how people move from street to housing in our current system. Our next episode, which airs May 28 at noon on This Is Nashville on WPLN (90.3 FM), we will take a closer look at the interconnectedness of health care and homelessness.
In My Place is funded through a partnership with Pinnacle Financial Partners, and specific episodes have already been promoted nationally by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and Community Solutions — both organizations were represented on the show.
If you wonder why you are familiar with Tasha Lemley’s name it is because she’s a founding member and a former executive director of The Contributor. She and I share two passions — homelessness and journalism. Thus, when we had the opportunity to collaborate and create In My Place, a dream came true for me.
Fundamentally, The Contributor is about elevating the voices of those of our neighbors who are often pushed to the brink of society, overlooked, or blamed for their desperate situations. Giving voice means acknowledging each other, hearing each other, and eventually listening to each other to find common solutions. The Contributor creates opportunities for people who are building their own microbusiness by becoming paper vendors. In addition, roughly 35 percent of the paper is written by vendors.
While In My Place is not connected to The Contributor, through our work with this paper, it was a no-brainer for Tasha and me to include the voices of people who have experienced and lived through homelessness in every episode of In My Place. We launched the show with an all-experts panel of people who had experienced homelessness. Each episode also includes a commentary from the field, meaning that Tasha interviewed someone who is still experiencing homelessness or has recently transitioned to housing. As mentioned earlier, we invite different guest commentators to sit in the studio with us and listen to the show as we produce it. Then we invite them to the microphone to share a last word with our audience about what they have learned from the show and what they would like to hear more about in future episodes.
What stood out to me is the focus each of our guest commentators has provided about the importance of support services. They all seem to agree that while access to housing is the foundation and must be the top priority, we cannot neglect the importance of assistance with mental health, health care, and community connections once people move into housing. The transition from long-term homelessness to an apartment can be tough and people often feel lost and disconnected. Simple tasks like turning on a stove or microwave can feel daunting for some people who are still adjusting from daily survival to maintaining housing.
While we hear the same message from government officials, nonprofit experts, and researchers, it feels different — more real — when it comes from a first-person experience. Our guest commentators may talk about their mental health needs, their insecurities, their loneliness, and they truly connect directly with us, the listener.
Through In My Place, we hope to bring voices to the table that show the difference in how any of us talk about homelessness. Each guest has a specific viewpoint. All of them may be needed, but every time I leave the studio after the show, I understand a little bit more how none of what we do matters if we do not truly listen to the people who live through and survive homelessness.
Whereas my commentary through this column may be critical and hopefully educational, it is my perspective. In My Place, on the other hand, provides a forum where you hear directly from the different guests to form your own opinion. I think both approaches have their place and can spur conversations.
Homelessness has become a hot topic across the nation. Most cities and counties struggle under the pressure of NIMBYism. NIMBY stands for Not In My Back Yard and has resulted in the hyper-politicization of homelessness with governments trying to implement quick solutions, which simply don’t exist. Moving people out of sight is not a solution — unless it results in permanent housing (with the support to help people maintain housing).
We hope that In My Place can help educate people of how collaboration, systems building, and data-driven approaches can assist in helping people access permanent housing options with the right support quicker. I also hope that the show will help cut through the political rhetoric that has taken over so many cities including Nashville and end up overpromising and under delivering at the detriment of people’s lives.
Ending homelessness is not easy. But we also must realize that in the United States, the deep affordability crisis, the deep disparity between rich and poor, and racism are the fundamental causes of homelessness. Personal decisions may contribute to someone losing their housing, but too often systems like foster care, criminal justice, inadequate health care including mental health care and the lack of living wages are designed in a way that unfortunately have made them main drivers of homelessness. If we want to prevent homelessness, it is imperative that we fix the social fabric of our support systems. It will take political will at the local, state and national level to truly invest in the citizens and residents of this country.
My hope is that In My Place helps spur the conversation in a hopeful and thoughtful way, so that we all can advocate for more accessible housing for all our neighbors.
The show will run through October and airs on This Is Nashville on the last Tuesday of each month.