The Mayor’s Commission to End Chronic Homeless spent much of its meeting today discussing the impact of hurricane evacuees on Metro Social Serivces.
The group says there’s a fairly high degree of coordination between area non-profits and metro services.
But Homeless representative Howard Allen says all the concern over Katrina and Rita evacuees shouldn’t overshadow the commission’s mandate.
“I was just wondering, how can we get the people in the state of Tennessee focused on the housing for the homeless that are homeless 365 days out of the year. And we have our Katrina or tsunami every day. So I was just wondering what can we do. We just don’t want to be slapped in the face and forgotten because I believe it woke up the nation that poverty is here.”
Metropolitan Housing and Development Agency Director Phil Ryan says the federal government has given housing money for hurricane evacuees to the Tennessee department of finance and administration, which has allocated it to several agencies throughout the state.
The Mid Cumberland Community Service Agency is the designee for the Nashville area, and has set up an office on Eighth Avenue across from the Werthan Mill lofts.
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