Nashville opens its first permanent supportive housing development
Nashville’s first permanent supportive housing development for individuals experiencing homelessness opened after a ribbon cutting at the Jo Johnston Avenue facility on July 18.
The Strobel House, named for the late Father Charles Strobel who died last year, has been years in the making. Mayor Freddie O’Connell took to the stage before the ribbon cutting to offer a message of gratitude for those who made the Strobel House possible.
“We’ve worked now across four different mayoral administrations to ensure we got this right. And now we’re here, with new homes for people in desperate need,” he said. “Mayor [Megan] Barry was right to begin the conversation, Mayor [David] Briley was right to continue it. Mayor [John] Cooper was right to decide to name it for Charlie as he too continued it. And I am proud to be here today having worked with all of them on it, to help it get open and stay open.”
The $35-million complex features 90 fully furnished apartments, including some ADA compliant units, laundry facilities, onsite mailboxes and bike storage and a computer lab. Located off 2nd Avenue, the facility offers close proximity to public transit as well as views of the downtown skyline and the Cumberland River. Forty-five of the units will be dedicated to those experiencing chronic homelessness, with the other half left for use by unhoused veterans, young adults and LGBTQ+ individuals.
As of March, nearly 1,500 Nashvillians could be defined as experiencing chronic homelessness, defined by the National Alliance to End Homelessness homelessness sustained for a year or repeated homelessness experienced by a person with mental illness, substance abuse issues or a physical disability. Chronically homeless folks make up roughly 41 percent of the city’s unhoused population, according to the city. The Strobel House will act as a permanent supportive housing development, which means the facility must not impose a time limit on residence and services such as mental and physical health care must be provided.
The development is a collaborative effort of many government and outside organizations. Ground broke on the project in May of 2022 under the leadership of then-Mayor John Cooper. O’Connell has been an advocate for the project since its inception, and has been openly critical of the delays it has faced, even when he was a council member. O’Connell’s professed mission for his time in office included a “Housing First” initiative designed to get Nashvillians off the streets with long-term solutions.
“Here at Strobel House, we say welcome home,” O’Connell said at the ribbon cutting.
Strobel spent his life in Nashville and beyond as an advocate for the unhoused and underserved — the roots of this development perhaps began with his strongest legacy: Room In The Inn, a nonprofit that has helped fill some gaps by inviting local churches to shelter the unhoused. What began in the 1980s as a simple offer from Strobel to stay the night has grown into one of Nashville’s most successful interfaith organizations. More than 100 congregations in the greater Nashville area have opened their doors to unhoused neighbors through RITI, and the organization’s home campus in Nashville offers day shelter and supportive services to those without permanent housing.
Room In The Inn’s Rachel Hester shared a letter with guests at the opening ceremony, written by Father Strobel about the new permanent supportive housing project before his passing.
“Affordable housing is a critical need of any city,” he wrote. “Nashville’s real estate market has driven rents to a level out of reach for those who earn from 0 to 60 percent of the median income. This trend can cripple a city. This project reverses that trend. In a downtown area, the lack of workforce housing is astonishing. This project proposed as low-income housing for the homeless will create more workforce housing, especially in construction, housekeeping, and food services. Suddenly the homeless are no longer a problem, but now a solution.”
His letter outlines what providers and outreach workers know all over the city.
“When someone is experiencing homelessness, it can be a full time effort just to care for basic needs, much less to handle complex medical or mental health needs,” he wrote. “As a result, Strobel House is more than just a place to stay. It’s a place to heal and to rebuild. It’s an investment in the people likeliest to experience chronic homelessness, not just those who may be easier to house. We’re doing it with wraparound services, not just walls, to help everyone who will call Strobel House home enjoy a different kind of living in Nashville where they can be and achieve their healthiest selves.”
The Office of Homeless Services will act as the asset manager of Strobel House and will be responsible for referring residents for housing. The building will be staffed by Depaul USA, a national nonprofit organization supporting homelessness service initiatives. Depaul operates permanent supportive housing programs in five other cities including New Orleans, Philadelphia and St. Louis as well as day centers and transitional housing in other locations.
The Strobel House could be a promising step forward for Nashville’s homelessness crisis, but it isn’t a comprehensive solution: Ninety units is an important, but small, dent overall in the number of low-income units needed to sustain people in the city. It also only provides housing for individuals, not families. With a newly increased budget of $5 million set aside for a U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant, the Strobel House is a chapter in the book of how to wrap Nashville’s most underserved citizens in community.
As Strobel wrote in the letter shared at the event, “Surely our poorest neighbors deserve to share in the riches of our city.”