Greene County leaders meet to discuss homeless population

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Greene County leaders called together stakeholders to address the county’s homelessness problem on Wednesday.

After this year’s Appalachian Regional Coalition on Homelessness Point-in-Time (PIT) count, which determines how many people in the region are experiencing homelessness, showed a large increase in homelessness in Greene County, leaders decided it was time to act. 2024’s data showed the total number of people experiencing homelessness has increased from 26 to 81 people in Greene County.

Mike Hartsell, Vice Chair of CANUP (Coalition Addressing the Needs of Unhoused People in Greene County), said he’s not sure if there’s been a large increase or if this year’s count was more accurate.

“This year, we did a little better job of getting out and doing fieldwork, of street outreach and came up with numbers that pop out and gave us a chance to highlight this issue,” said Hartsell.

Hartsell said the meeting, which more than 100 people attended, included citizens, State Representative David Hawk, Greene County Housing Authority representative Rebecca Moyers, officers with the Greeneville Police Department and Greeneville Mayor Cal Doty.

Doty said the meeting was a great opportunity to educate him about the problem so he could look for the right solution.

“We want to help everyone, but we have limited resources. So what is the best usage of our time and how can help affect the most people,” he said.

The meeting addressed some of the misconceptions surrounding the homeless. For example, speakers said that they are not all unemployed and most don’t have an addiction problem. Hartsell told News Channel 11 the biggest barrier to finding homes for those in need is affordability.

“This meeting is hopefully going to discuss some issues around what we can do to improve affordable housing, affordable rents that can get people in houses and to lower the barriers that occur for people that need housing,” Hartsell said.

The meeting ended with calls for real collaboration between those in attendance. While there was not a solution discovered at the meeting, the meeting showed that homelessness is a concern for many in Greeneville.

“Greeneville is a very caring community,” Doty said. “We try to help our people and try to give back. There’s a lot of people that will give back, and this crowd here shows it’s a concern to many people.”

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