Tag: Urban Blight

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Unsheltered Point-in-Time Count Looks to Quantify Homelessness in Memphis

CREDIT: CAFTH

CAFTH

The 2020 Unsheltered Point-in-Time Count found that 90% of those experiencing homelessness in TN were sheltered.

This week, the Continuum of Care began conducting its bi-annual Unsheltered Point-in-Time Count to monitor the homeless population in Shelby County. Continuum of Care is one of the lead agencies tasked with working towards ending homelessness in Memphis. and group works with different service providers and partners throughout the city to tackle the issue.

The Unsheltered Point-in-Time Count keeps track of how many times people move in and out of shelters in the city, and is federally mandated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. During the count, volunteers go through Memphis and create a list of those experiencing homelessness on the streets and in shelters. That data is then fed into the homelessness management system allowing for an accurate representation of the homeless population in Memphis, as well as nationwide.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected how the Continuum of Care has tackled the count. Planning director Grant Ebbesmeyer explains that while this has been a difficult year, they have still been able to find positives.

“It’s certainly a difficult year. From a broad perspective, it changed how a lot of our partners have worked together, but it’s actually been kind of a positive,” says Ebbesmeyer “We have definitely been able to strengthen relationships with some of our partners, and amongst other partners as well, who in the past might have said we need to do something more on our own, but these days have realized that there is really strength in numbers through coming together and partnering with different agencies.”

This year the Unsheltered Point-in-Time Count will look a little different. Normally, around 100 volunteers would spilt up and begin canvassing the street at 4 am before heading to soup kitchens and meal sites later in the day. Due to COVID-19, Continuum of Care will instead ask 11 different service sites throughout the city to monitor and gather data from those stopping by the shelters. The canvassing period has been elongated to compensate for the change, and the organization will continue to send out small groups of people to gather data each day.

“We know it’s not perfect, but in a lot of ways, this is the best that we can do, working with some of our agencies that have very limited capacity or staff to be able to report data to us on a regular basis,” says Ebbesmeyer. “We definitely didn’t want to miss having a full data set for this year, especially since it’s been a very different year than in the past.”

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United Housing Awarded $50,000 from Bank of America

Amy Schaftlein, executive director for United Housing, holds their award

Through Bank of America’s Neighborhood Champion program, United Housing has received a grant for $50,000 as well as an opportunity for its staff to undergo virtual leadership training. The Neighborhood Champion program gives recognition to nonprofits that play a role in advancing economic mobility. Due to the program, Bank of America is the largest corporate philanthropic investment in nonprofit leadership in the country. Bank of America Memphis Market President, Livingston Albritten, released a statement.

“As we consider many of the challenges that our communities are facing – from the health and humanitarian crisis brought on by the coronavirus to the need for progress on racial equality and economic opportunity – the Neighborhood Champions program is a relevant and timely initiative to support the communities we serve,” said Albritten. “This program enables partners like United Housing to plan strategically for growth and long-term sustainability, and we look forward to seeing how this investment helps United Housing make even greater strides to address homebuyer education and assistance in the Memphis area.”

 United Housing is known throughout the city for helping Memphians through the homeownership process. United housing is nationally recognized for its efforts in providing curriculum, homebuilding, and neighborhood revitalization and rehabilitation. Using a holistic approach the non-profit accurately helps Memphians on a case by case basis. Amy Schaftlein, executive director for United Housing, said that being chosen doesn’t distract them from their mission on hand.

“Our goal will be to keep people safely housed and working on preserving homeownership and neighborhood stability next year, which will be critical for many families,” said Schaftlein. “We are humbled to be recognized by Bank of America for this mission and we are eager to get to work meeting essential housing needs in Memphis.”

United Housing will use funds from the grant to provide further education and revitalization to members and member neighborhoods in their organization.

“Funds from the grant will support United Housing’s homebuyer education and minor home repair programs as the economic impacts of the pandemic have increased demand for these critical services,” said Schaftlein. “This opportunity will allow the organization to expand mortgage and rental assistance counseling services, while expanding the ability for aspiring homebuyers to get closer to their goals in uncertain economic environment.”

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

Letters to the Editor

The On-Campus Stadium

As a resident of the Normal Station neighborhood immediately south of the University of Memphis, as a former board member of the Normal Station board of directors, and as a current Ph.D. candidate in the history department at the University of Memphis, I am appalled at the idea of an on-campus stadium (“The Football Stadium as Political Football,” September 27th issue).

I have long been a supporter of both the university and the neighborhood and the ability of both to work together. In the near-decade my husband and I have lived here, we have seen our housing value rise dramatically. This has been due in no small part to the exceptional working relationship and common future vision we have fostered with the university (despite some notable failures). This is a growing, vibrant community.

A stadium in the middle of our neighborhood would essentially put an end to all that. Urban blight would be the inevitable and sorry result. It is hard enough to deal with acres of parking lots, but a stadium would be a sheer and utter disaster. As it is, we have lost the town of Normal to the university. (Do you realize that the acres of parking lots south of the train tracks were once a thriving little town, taken by the university by eminent domain?) Please, let us not lose our neighborhood.

Laura Perry
Memphis

The Memphis Music
Commission

What can be said about a music commission (“Standing at the Crossroads,” September 13th issue) supposedly representing the interests of the rich history and current vibrancy of the Memphis music community, when it cannot even get the date right (on its own historical timeline on its Web site) of the death of Memphis’ most famous musician: the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley?

Tess Foley

Monroe, Connecticut

Pace’s Comments

We are pointedly uninterested in hearing General Peter Pace, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pontificate about what varieties of sexual relations between consenting adults are — in his vaunted opinion — “immoral” or “counter to the law of God.”

If he’s so interested in interpreting God’s law and parsing out the precise parameters of moral behavior, he might do well to pray for guidance in searching his own soul for having played apologist for the most horrifically immoral presidential administration in American history and its misbegotten $500 billion (and counting) war, which has ravaged Iraq and its citizens, siphoned our resources from our own vast and urgent needs in education, science, and health care, undermined a meaningful multilateral response to terrorism, and made a travesty of our leadership role in the world.

It is this kind of ignorant parochialism and self-blinding presumptuousness and hypocrisy for which our nation and our culture are paying such a bloody, soul-withering price.

Hadley Hury
Memphis

Crackheads or Rednecks?

I actually don’t know which group is scarier: the gun-wielding, crack-headed gang members or the close-minded, time-warped rednecks. We seem to have plenty of both around here. I can only pray that we somehow eliminate both of these extremes, thus allowing the rest of us — the vast majority — to live our lives in harmony.

Jerry Saunders

Memphis

Maliki

Poor Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. He rants and rails against Blackwater mercenaries as they shoot their way through his country, but quite soon, President Bush will tap him on the shoulder and remind him that the head of Blackwater is a top Republican donor, the scion of one of the wealthiest families in South Carolina, and co-founder of Focus on the Family to boot.

Bush will then remind Maliki that the only way Iraq’s Republican enablers will survive the 2008 election is if high-rollers like Blackwater keep donating. If that means U.S. contractors continue wandering the roadsides dispensing Saddam-style justice as they see fit, then so be it. The unspoken message is that Blackwater will be in Iraq long after Maliki has gone.

Being a figurehead isn’t always easy, but as another figurehead once reminded a roomful of federal prosecutors: “We serve at the pleasure of President Bush.” Like Alberto Gonzales, Maliki will soon realize he’s about as essential as table garnish and just as easily replaced.

Ellen Beckett

Memphis