Homelessness Commission to Close Tent City by June

The Metro Homelessness Commission wants Tent City closed by June and its more than 40 residents gone. A committee made the recommendation to Mayor Karl Dean today.

The camp falls in the shadows of the interstate system near the Cumberland River. The commission will attempt to find housing for the 32 most vulnerable residents who were around last fall when Metro Police initially threatened a sweep.

Commission chair and Metro Councilman Erik Cole says homeless advocates throughout the city have since tried to find a way to keep the camp alive, but nothing worked.

“There was not an option where we could say let’s keep this camp open and try to make it a model camp for how these kinds of camps might survive and work, mostly because of the property rights issues.”

The state’s Department of Transportation owns the land.

Cole estimates 15 to 20 similarly sized camps are scattered throughout Metro Nashville. The Homelessness Commission will gather public input on a new policy for dealing with homeless camps in four meetings scheduled for February. Cole says Metro Government could sanction a permanent encampment if it owned the land.