The most important question of the night went something like this.

Someone from the crowd asked Bill Lyons how many Homeless were in Knoxville today?

Bill Lyons then repeated the question to Jon Lawler, who then said: "Do you mean the Total Chronically Homeless? and the guy said, "No, I want to know how many total Homeless population" and Jon Lawler then said: "I don't have that number"

That answer is from the Director of the Ten Year Plan.

Wow

about WHY the TYP team never has any visual aids. They have a story that involves numbers and year-over-year changes. Why don't they use charts and graphs with circles and arrows??? Graphics can convey the story so much better than words.

And, yes, I agree that someone should have been able to state the magnitude of the problem. I worked in a non-profit and most everyone on the staff knew the gross numbers off the cuff...

I've seen Dr Greene's Road Home powerpoint presentation and I thought it was very thorough. I support the TYP, which is broader than just PSH, but continue to be disappointed with the public presentations...

Also attending were City Council member Brenda Palmer and County Commissioners Ed Shouse and Finbarr Saunders.

One questioner mentioned that a Helen Ross McNabb project in her neighborhood currently had no resident manager and the homeless were wandering the neighborhood.

If they live in a McNabb home, why are called homeless?

It seems the label of being homeless can't even be overcome when they have a home. That isn't a problem the formerly homeless can solve. That can only be resolved by those doing the labeling.

The Cox Street apartments managed by Helen Ross McNabb seemed to monopolize the Q&A. I was a little disappointed that no one answered that question as bluntly as they answered some others. What do you do if someone is causing a disturbance in your neighborhood? You call the police. It doesn't matter if they are formerly homeless or Tiger Woods getting chased to his SUV with a golf club. The young man that lives close to the apartments talked about a 'regulatory board or agency' to deal with these behaviors. If they are criminal behavior, call KPD. If it is not, you can't regulate their behavior anymore than I can regulate yours. Their actions, criminal or otherwise, should not be linked to their time being homeless. It should be linked to their individual character or lack thereof. We are not talking about a breed of animal. We are talking about human beings. Residents of PSH that are consistently cited for being a disturbance, publicly intoxicated, etc. will be removed.

Ray Abbas

OK,the guy didn't know the number of homeless folks that live among us.

Anybody think to follow up with Mr. Lawler?

OK,the guy didn't have the number you wanted;when you
wanted it.Should have,I guess.

But did you follow up to see if Mr. Lawler had the number
or could point you in the right direction of getting the number you want?

Light a candle,man,light a candle!

Please correct me if am wrong but reading this thread makes it sound like no one ever produced an answer to the question. Dr. Nooe explained that homelessness can be difficult to measure because it is a static situation. I believe he said it is measured each February and he estimated the number at 6-7K. The number changes daily as episodically homeless (eviction, house forclosure, job loss, etc.) move back into homes after only a brief time on the street.

The human condition changes. Asking how many homeless there are and expecting an exact number is like asking how many people have cancer. Sadly, every minute new people are diagnosed and thankfully every day many go into remission. Hopefully, the discussion last night will allow us to continue to understand the nuts and bolts of homelessness.

Ray Abbas

And as far as pinpointing the numbers of Homeless, again, there are no numbers that are completely accurate when counting and using different mathematical processes for projecting the total numbers of all types of Homeless in the US.

But, when the TYP attempts to put forth numbers that are so obviously incorrect, it makes people wonder what is going on.

One example: Jon Lawler and Robert Finley, continue to claim that the Chronically Homeless are 10-15% of the total Homeless population in Knoxville. And that number is 1252.

That means that there are over 8000 Homeless in Knoxville. But according to Dr. Nooe, when he was asked about the number of total Homeless population, he said-

That’s a hard question to answer because the homeless population is very changeable. The number you’re asking about is never a static number because the people you’re counting don’t have addresses and they move around from place to place a lot. In the past we relied on statistical analysis of estimates based on data collection methods that were at the time the best we had.

So if the number is not static, and is always changing, and if the 1252, is based on the 8000+ number, and that at any one time, according to Dr. Nooe’s estimates, there are about 2000 homeless in Knoxville, than doesn’t that mean that there would be only about 300 Chronically homeless in Knoxville during that same time period?

Now I am sure that some of you are scratching your heads at this, but the point is this. If the Chronically Homeless are actually almost 50% of the total, and the TYP will be building 80+ PSH units, then tell the Voters of Knoxville and Knox County, so they can understand when the Property Tax hikes start, and they are asked to Vote on special Bond Referendums to fund this plan in the future. .

Unless you're deliberately avoiding trying to understand it.

Most people who are homeless are in and out of that condition in about six months, remember? You learned that last night according to the report of the meeting. Not so the chronically homeless, who stay homeless for a long time. On any given night, maybe half the souls swept up in a point in time count could be them nasty, indeservin' chronic homies.

If you're talking about annual totals, the math's a little different for reasons that should be pretty obvious to everyone but you.

It's a good thing the opposition biz is just a second job for you, whooshbody. Good thing your first job's waiting for you too.