It’s probably safe to say that most of us have felt the squeeze of the poor economy whether you’re doing battle with the housing market or just funneling your savings into your gas tank every week. With Tennessee unemployment rates at a 15-year high and the rising cost of pretty much everything, more people are ending up on Nashville’s streets. In the past year, the homeless population of Nashville is up 10%, with number of homeless women and children increasing by 32%.
Along with it, the city continues to step up their efforts to find a balance between helping people out and keeping downtown looking nice for the rest of us. Their latest idea? Hooking them up with a one-way bus ticket out of town.
The new Metro Police central precinct commander has initiated a program where homeless people, and others stranded in Nashville, are referred to the private sector, which then buys them bus tickets out of town.
Huggins was adamant that the program was not akin to busing movements in other cities like New York City or Atlanta, where homeless individuals were shipped out of town en masse.
He said the purpose of the program is not to rid Nashville of the chronically homeless, but simply to provide help.
“I just wanted to help these people, because they are in my district just like anybody else who lives here,†said Huggins. “I thought, ‘Well this is kind of a win-win situation if I can help someone and then there’s one less person who might be urinating on the street or causing a problem.’ †[City Paper]
So far, we haven’t heard any objections from the Nashville Homeless Power Project, who says they’ll be keeping an eye on it. We’re a little more skeptical that the “private sector” mentioned in the article is the Nashville Downtown Partnership, whose main concern seems to be keeping the streets clean for downtown residents. What’s everyone’s take on this?
Photo by cwage.
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"Let's hope the city they are shipped to doesn't have a similar program to send them back to Nashville."
Hilarity
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"yay! now i'm homeless in a whole NEW town!"
??
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@megaphonic: I'd have to say I'm with you on this, though it's really interesting to me that the NHPP seems to be pretty warm to the idea. But the motivation seems pretty clear, since the end result is getting them out of sight rather than connecting them with any sort of services. Mental illness, substance abuse, disabilities... none of that's going to go away in a new town, you know?
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Reading about a free one way tickets out of town for homeless people makes me sick, and harkens to the height of irresponsibility that plagues our culture (and in reality humanity throughout history). Thank you Nashvillest for reporting this.
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@Jim: Glad you liked it. I totally agree with your thoughts about "out of sight, out of mind." Given the Downtown Partnership's track record with the homeless lately, I can't imagine they're genuinely interested in helping. I'll be interested to hear what the NHPP has to say about it in the next few weeks.
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