Here is Madeline Rogero's official statement on the Ten Year Plan:

"I want to talk a moment about The Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. Though a relatively small initiative in the overall portfolio of city issues and budgets, it has created significant controversy and passion over one strategy-- the siting of permanent supportive housing. Yet remember that the TYP is a comprehensive plan with 9 strategies that address this subset of the homeless population that utilizes a disproportionate amount of public resources and services.

Moving people into housing first and providing them with supportive case management is already working in Knoxville, helping people stabilize their lives, address the issues that led to chronic homelessness, and reduce their need for more costly city services. This plan is part of a larger collaboration among service providers and the city to address all forms of homelessness.

It is my hope that this next year will provide opportunities to discuss strengths and weaknesses with the plan and ways to improve it. The problems and costs of chronic homelessness won’t go away by ignoring it or by demogoguing. This is a time for constructive community dialogue and for those who wish to lead our city to show their ability to do so."

SOURCE: Campaign Kick-Off Speech

Here is a statement by Mark Padgett on the Ten Year Plan:

W: What is your stance on the issue of homelessness/ are you for the TYP?

P: We Knoxvillians aren’t the kind of people who turn our backs on those without a roof over their heads. However, I don’t believe building supportive housing in the middle of established, thriving neighborhoods is the most responsible way to help those in need or to improve our city. I want to take a practical look at the Ten-Year Plan and come up with a better way – solutions we can afford that will show results.
Knoxville is the heartbeat of East Tennessee, and our neighborhoods are the heartbeat of Knoxville. City government that serves the people must be a good steward of the neighborhoods where they live. I am committed to making Knoxville’s communities more convenient places for our families to live, work and play.

SOURCE: Knoxville Journal Profiles Mark Padgett

Marilyn Roddy statement on the Ten Year Plan:

Q: What is your stance on the Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness?

A: I believe that the nine tenants of the Ten Year Plan are the best blueprint for addressing Chronic Homelessness in Knoxville. Remember, we are trying to address the Chronically Homeless, the 10-15% of the overall homeless population that is consuming 50% of our public assistance resources. We know that the ways we have addressed homelessness in the past, while compassionate and well-intentioned, have not effected long term change and have not been a wise investment of our limited resources. In the first five years of the plan’s implementation, we have made progress in many areas, including coordination of services, prevention of homelessness and better data collection. We have two supportive housing facilities, one that has opened and one under construction. I believe we need to get both facilities open and develop a track record of success before funding another supportive housing facility.

SOURCE: THE KNOXVILLE JOURNAL INTERVIEWS MARILYN

Ivan Harmon statement on the Ten Year Plan:

No supportive housing in neighborhoods or parks

November 30, 2010: Ivan Harmon, candidate for Mayor of Knoxville, says he is “against the Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in its current form.” “It’s not working and must be re-evaluated. I was the first to speak out against supportive housing,” Harmon added. “It will be one of the defining issues in the mayor’s race.”

“I pledge not to put any supportive housing in any neighborhoods,” said Harmon who called for a re-evaluation of the plan when he announced his candidacy in September. “It is a fact that some residents of supportive housing will be disabled by mental illness, chemical dependency and physical disabilities; we need to make sure they will have access to adequate services. We’re half-way through this plan and there are a number of issues that I think we need to re-visit including costs, budget process and community involvement,” Harmon added.

Among his priorities, Harmon says he will put safe and clean neighborhoods first and put on-hold the city-county Ten-Year Plan. The plan has also been criticized by various community groups for its attempts to locate permanent supportive housing throughout the area.

SOURCE: Ivan Harmon statement on the Ten-Year Plan

OK.

It is helpful to have this thread. I am very surprised with the positions taken above by the candidates. Originally I had little interested in this TYP until I was insulted here on KnoxViews. Since that time I have read a great deal about this TYP program.

What I have learned is that this is a blank check program. That the management of the TYP will not answer questions. And that a few supporters of the TYP will attack anyone who dares bring this subject up.

Not so sure I think segregating this to a special thread is a good idea. It may be. Do the rules apply to everyone?

On the other thread the commenter Sobi seems to break the rules with abandon. I had a post removed because I made a mistake. I don't get the difference. The commenter jfm alleges only six people care about this. Another commenter says that no one against the TYP or with questions about the TYP has their facts in order. The commenter Barker flew off the handle in another thread and accused me of things I didn't do.

I don't get how people can accept and approve a plan that has no budget, has no clear goals, and doesn't have a track record. If one of you could coherently explain that I would like to understand where you are coming from. I don't see it.

I think many of the candidates have yet to flesh out their ideas about the TYP. I suspect they will begin doing so soon.

It's a complicated issue, and one where most people shouldn't be characterized as "fer" or "agin." For example, I am a supporter of the scattered site approach for PSH, and I believe we have a moral imperative to help the homeless. OTOH, I think the current program in that regard (it's done fine in some areas not related to PSH) has been badly mismanaged in about as many ways as it is possible to do so.

I'll be waiting to hear specifics from the candidates on how they might improve the program. What's NOT acceptable to me is doing nothing and just continuing to allow the homeless to live on the streets of close-in north Knoxville.

How does this relate to the candidates? This sounds like a discussion for the TYP general discussion topic.

If you do not put the PSH in neighborhoods, exactly where will it go? Is there a Chicagoesque industrial area of Knoxville that has escaped my notice? Where will the housing go? How can you address a social issue with no cost to society? I'm willing to believe that I. Harmon means what he says but how will he accomplish this?

Downtown is very much a neighborhood. The homeless have been housed, fed and cared for in this area of very high property values for a number of years. Why should I believe that it would be bad in someone else's neighborhood? Why should one neighborhood bear the brunt of society-at-large problem? (Should I phrase that as "Why does a mayoral candidate believe that ... ?)

Mr Padgett says," I don’t believe building supportive housing in the middle of established, thriving neighborhoods is the most responsible way to help those in need or to improve our city. "He rejects the PSH component of TYP, thereby gutting the plan.What does he offer in it's place ? The financial benefts of TYP should help sell the idea in this time of budgetary pressure.Dr Nooe's work clearly establishes the
financial realities of this dynamic .Let these politicians explain the real cost of the staus quo.Certain neighborhoods have borne this burden for many years and now seek a better and more fair distribution. Madeline understands and exposes this hypocrisy,....... "Moving people into housing first and providing them with supportive case management is already working in Knoxville, helping people stabilize their lives, address the issues that led to chronic homelessness, and reduce their need for more costly city services. This plan is part of a larger collaboration among service providers and the city to address all forms of homelessness.
It is my hope that this next year will provide opportunities to discuss strengths and weaknesses with the plan and ways to improve it. The problems and costs of chronic homelessness won’t go away by ignoring it or by demogoguing. This is a time for constructive community dialogue and for those who wish to lead our city to show their ability to do so."
........MrPadgett got $100O contributions from Mr Ragsdale and Mr Arms and opposes TYP..Hmmmmm.....Smells and sounds like Back to the Future

Downtown still isn't an "established, thriving neighborhood" yet? Dammit. This news will kill downtown.

today’s McMansions might become tomorrow’s equivalent of Fourth and Gill or Old North Knoxville circa 1970: cut up into apartments, housing the poor, and all but abandoned by society.

Burntorange, you say the next mayor needs a study showing all the costs of homelessness. But he or she doesn't. You appear to be conflating the chronically homeless with the episodically homeless. You shouldn't confuse the two, given the amount of reading you seem to have done.

The office in the mayor's office coordinates the Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. As such, it is only concerned with the chronically homeless, not the entire homeless population (though many aspects of the plan are aimed at preventing homelessness). Nooe's study is the best one we have about the costs of dealing with the chronically homeless, though those costs are borne by both city and county taxpayers, plus anyone who uses local hospitals.

What the next mayor needs to think about, vis a vis the chronically homeless, is how to administer the program in such a way that improves the quality of life for the city, including its chronically homeless, while minimizing costs to city taxpayers.

So far, the chronically homeless have been housed mostly in section 8 or public housing, which doesn't add to the costs city taxpayers must pay. What new PSH does is use federal and private (with little or no city contributions) funding to build housing. In a general sense, it shifts the public costs associated with the chronically homeless from the city and county to the feds and, to a lesser extent, the state. Think of it as unfunded mandates in reverse.

Are there city taxpayer costs to administer the program? Yes. But it's minimal compared to the social benefits - getting the chronically homeless off the streets, providing a way for the chronically homeless to address the issues that led to their homelessness, freeing up police and first responders to respond to calls not involving the chronically homeless and so on.

The next mayor shouldn't consider killing the TYP. He or she should explain to voters how the city ought to fulfill the plan's potential to make the city a better place to live for everyone.

Scott Barker

In response to the Sobi poster. I am not at all saying anything should stop, all I am saying is that it seems to me that with all the difficulties that the TYP now faces, one way to let move forward would be to look at the Total cost of Homelessness in the City and County to people will better understand the depth of the problem.

A couple of interns could put this imformation together in a few weeks, and it would be done.

I will ask this question again, why is there such resistance to disclosing what the total dollars spent to provide all homeless services to the Homeless and Formerly Homeless in the City and County on an annyal basis is?

If anyone wants to do a little research, these types of projects have been done around the country in cities our size and larger. I really don't know what the big deal is.

What part of this thread is about the TYP as it affects the Mayor's race do you folks not understand?

Randy provided you with a nice shiny new general thread about the TYP. Use it.

Y'all feel free to carry on and talk about whatever TYP topics you want here.

I am curious, though, about reaction to the statements by the candidates re. TYP mentioned above.

I wonder if ,if ,...... if Mr Padgett is a neo-Nimby looking for a way to let TYP wither on the vine while the toadies dither about PSH details...details about which they care not ? This would give a cachet of progressive fragrance to a status quo bouquet .Dont you just hate cheap plastic flowers?