The math is simple: Metro has invested millions of dollars into homelessness since 2022 at unprecedented levels for Nashville. Yet overall homelessness during that time has increased by 14 percent. In comparison, Metro’s homelessness budget was relatively flat prior to 2022, remaining stable at $1.5 to $2 million annually. But homelessness decreased by 15 percent from 2016 to 2022.
What has happened?
For one, rent has been increasing rapidly since 2016, with huge rent jumps during the height of COVID, which have since tapered off. I did a quick AI search to look at the federal Fair Market Rate (FMR) for one-bedroom apartments. Between 2016 and 2022, the FMR rent increase was $353 and between 2022 and 2025, it was $550. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GOA) published a study in 2020 that estimated that for every $100 in rent increase in an area, homelessness increases by approximately 9 percent. I am unsure how accurately those findings can be applied to local changes in homelessness numbers because cities (including Nashville prior to 2022) have clearly shown decreased in homelessness while rent increased.
Nonetheless, I believe the main causes for increases in homelessness happen due to market changes. Specifically, when the rich get richer and the poor get poorer while the government safety nets are being eroded, individuals and families are left with no place to go. This makes it difficult for a single department to control the actual level of homelessness.
While I believe a homelessness system is unable to control how many people become homeless due to the lack of an overall safety net, cities like Nashville would do best to work increasingly with housing, healthcare and justice systems to stem the tide. To do so, we need local leaders who understand what systems building entails and what preventative measures could look like. In my opinion, we don’t have that leadership here and continuing to bring in more national and outside consultants while ignoring local voices clearly has not worked.
When I look at the Metro budget for homelessness, I see a continuation of increasing bureaucracy. I see a strengthening of power consolidation under the Mayor’s Office via OHS, power grabs, a decrease in collaboration and systems building, and an erosion of mutual trust among government and service providers doing the actual work. I see a lot of talk and less action that truly focuses on the needs of the people experiencing homelessness. I see a lot of show and propaganda to secure voter satisfaction — and little result to reduce actual outdoor homelessness, which is the priority of this Mayor’s Office.
I see a city that is more concerned with making homelessness invisible than actually ending it for the people suffering through it.
And I see millions of dollars spent with little or no accountability.
Metro’s Office of Homeless Services Budget
Metro does not outline a clear homelessness strategy for the millions of dollars it spends on homelessness. Rather OHS leaders cite a community strategic plan put together by the Continuum of Care,* but then regularly removes programs funded by Metro directly from oversight, scrutiny, or even the coordinated entry process the CoC tasked OHS to manage on its behalf. Let’s look at the overall dollars the OHS had direct control over since 2022.
The Metro Council allocated $50 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to OHS. Those funds expire at the end of 2026 and OHS struggled to fully spend them down as originally intended — looking further into that will have to wait for a future column. To be fair, only $25 million was under direct control of OHS. The remaining $25 million was managed initially by the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) and then Metro’s Housing Division/the Barnes Fund to build actual permanent supportive housing units.
During that time, OHS’ budget (including that of the Homeless Impact Division, which the OHS department was formed out of) increased by 245 percent. Here is an annual budget breakdown:
- FY22/23: $3,364,000
- FY23/24: $5,524,900
- FY24/25: $6,097,300
- FY25/26: $11,628,300
- FY26/27 (proposed by the Mayor): $16,961,200
That last line of $17 million is what Mayor Freddie O’Connell proposes to allocate to OHS to make up for the annual loss in ARP funding. In essence, that means no additional services will be added.
While most departments will have to make do with flat budgets for the next fiscal year, OHS is receiving a 41-percent increase in its General Services District (GSD) budget, the largest percentage increase of any Metro Department in GSD dollars.
OHS also anticipates an increase in its Special Purpose Fund (SPF), which refers to funding that is restricted based on specific revenue sources. Grants would fall under this category. Usually, these are what Metro terms “non-tax supported budgetary funds.”
Requested Funding versus Mayor’s Office Proposed Budget
OHS asked for a budget increase this year totaling more than $10 million, which may provide an insight into Metro’s overall vision. Departments are required to list their requests in order of their priorities, which were as follows for OHS:
- $1.5 million to move 15 positions funded by federal ARP dollars to the Metro budget. OHS told me these positions worked in Coordinated Entry (data entry), Landlord Engagement, Individual Placement Services (employment navigation), HMIS Specialist (HMIS is the community’s Homeless Management Information System database that OHS manages on behalf of the Continuum of Care), and an Administrative Services Officer.
- $2 million for community case management. OHS explained to me that these dollars are “intended to continue housing stabilization and support services for people already connected to permanent housing programs and other similar participants in the future.”
- $2.5 million for interim housing, “including the current motel-based program operated with Hospitality Hub at the former Rodeway Inn site.” Furthermore, OHS stressed to me that “any interim housing options funded by OHS will always include robust supportive services for participants.”
- $800,000 for a collaborative prevention and diversion fund in partnership with the Metro Action Commission and Metro Planning.
- $2.7 million in shared funding with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to implement a rapid response for unhoused individuals in Downtown and surrounding areas. This request included the goal of increasing downtown tourism, which speaks volumes in terms of a department’s vision for homelessness.
- $109,100 for a team member to work after hours Downtown alongside the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife and MNPD.
- $500,000 “to enhance mental health services for residents recently placed into housing.”
- $90,800 for a position to serve as OHS’ liaison for community support efforts, communication coordination, and collaboration between OHS and “Metro key administrative functions to strengthen system alignment and responsiveness.”
The mayor recommended funding Priority 1) at $1.5 million to give the department a total staff of 59, 10 of which are seasonal positions to staff Metro’s Cold Weather Shelter; Priority 2) at $2 million for supportive services; and Priority 3) at $1.25 million for interim housing. These three allocations will shift the staff and services from federal funding to local funding. In essence, it is a status quo approach based on results that were underwhelming to begin with.
Even in her budget presentation to Metro Council in early May, OHS Director April Calvin explained that her department typically does not carry a caseload.
“We don’t provide a lot of direct service delivery,” Calvin said. “We rely on our community partners for housing, supportive services and our goal is to increase access to services and housing options by operating a system that allows for increased flow into our database and increased outflow out of homelessness.”
She explained that about $4 million of the current $11.1 million Metro budget is allocated to service providers. So then why would OHS need to be so staff-heavy?
Looking at the impact of the $50 million federal investments over the past 3.5 years would be helpful to see the added value that this Metro budget increase will bring.
The impact report of those $50-million investments that Calvin delivered as part of her budget presentation did not provide much useful information. For one, it mostly included outputs of services, which did not offer any insight into how they helped reduce homelessness. I think it’s safe to say that more people were helped than without the $50-million investment. The question is how many more could have been helped with a focus on ending homelessness rather than making it invisible — as is clearly the charge from the Mayor’s Office to OHS?
The so-called impact slide also included a list of investments to developers, some of which were no longer accurate as one developer returned all their funds because they no longer wanted to receive referrals to house people through OHS. But the impact report was representative of OHS approach to flooding Metro Council with data that does not stand up to scrutiny.
I outlined my concerns about this specific “impact infographic” to an OHS representative on April 8 and said I did not intend to write about those flaws. However, Calvin did include the confusing and mostly useless information in her presentation to Metro Council. When OHS was told that I may comment about it in this column, Demetris Chaney Perkins, the OHS public information coordinator, said that they are not done with the ARP infographic yet and wanted to have all the data before making a final report. OHS plans to schedule meetings with partners and hold a public listening session on what they learned, but it’s necessary to point out that data reports listing outputs do not present a data analysis showing impacts, especially since Calvin proudly presented herself as a data-driven leader throughout her budget presentation to Metro Council.
Without clear data analysis that provides accurate information on the true impact of the millions of dollars in investments over the past few years, it is hard to tell what difference an overstaffed, bureaucratic department like OHS makes in terms of building a solid and efficient system that actually is capable of reducing homelessness in our city.
The mayor’s proposed budget for OHS sends a message to keep doing what the city has been doing, which is what exactly?
- Homelessness numbers in Nashville are up.
- Only 41-61 percent of the folks from the seven encampment closures that Metro spearheaded since 2022 ever made it to permanent housing. If you wonder why I cite a 20-percentage point difference, that is because the numbers change depending on whether you believe OHS’ data report to Metro Council or Calvin’s sworn affidavit to a federal judge.
- Data also shows that if OHS knew how to run an efficient system, the 2025 one-night homelessness count could have stayed flat rather than show an increase of 4 percent over the prior year.
To elaborate on that last point, OHS publicly stated that they kept 80 temporary beds open for one year in anticipation of a camp closure. In a functioning system, at least 200 folks could have been served through these 80 beds over the course of that. Metro had the budget and means to do that but chose publicity and fanfare of closing a large encampment over humanity.
As a side effect of that choice, the data shows that housing only 86 of those 200 people could have avoided an increase in the annual one-night count.
Leadership matters, and how budgets are managed matters. But what matters most is how we treat people, especially when they are amongst some of our most vulnerable neighbors.
The OHS director is a direct report to Mayor Freddie O’Connell, and her job is following the vision and direction of the Mayor’s Office. That’s where the lack of oversight and accountability starts.
A Continuum of Care (CoC) is a regional or local planning body that coordinates housing and services funding for individuals, families, and unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness. A CoC creates a collaborative community effort that provides a strategic systems approach that focuses on connecting people to housing and services to end their homelessness.
Judith Tackett is a longtime homelessness expert and advocate for housing-focused, person-centered solutions. Opinions in this column are her own.