Slightly fewer Nashvillians were found living without permanent housing this year during an annual volunteer-led counting effort.
The federally mandated “point in time” count made contact with just over 2,094 people living on the streets or in shelters or encampments. The initiative happened overnight Jan. 25 into Jan. 26, with more than 100 volunteers from two dozen agencies visiting shelters and camps.
The count was 1.6% lower than in 2023. In the past decade, homelessness has been tending downward. Since 2016, the average point-in-time found 2,142 homeless residents.
Officials, meanwhile, have been clearing camps while establishing pathways to transitional and permanent housing. WPLN reporting has found that these transitions can take longer than officials want, and that there have been tensions at one of the city’s most important transitional housing cites in South Nashville.
The annual count factors into how resources are distributed.
Like in recent years, this year’s report found that nearly two-thirds of unhoused Nashvillians are men, and that a majority report having a disability.
“While it’s great to see a slight decrease in the number of unhoused Nashvillians, we know we have more work to do,” said Office of Homeless Services Director April Calvin. “Soon, the city will open its first public permanent supportive housing facility … and we’ve spent years working on improving our Homeless Management Information System so that we would have better overall real-time data.”
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM