4 minute read
Success of The 100 Day Challenge is Just the Beginning
By Jennifer Reason, Chief Operating Officer
The need for housing support for families experiencing homelessness has increased significantly. Over the past three years, the number of families on the Nashville-area by name list as nearly doubled. That is not because Safe Haven is serving less people. We served 320 families in 2022, a 28 percent increase over 2021, and we are on track to serve even more families this year. While we are scaling up, the end of the eviction moratorium, inflation, limited access to childcare, lack of transportation and lack of affordable housing are all playing a role in the increase in need. Safe Haven, along with community partners, knew we needed to do something more.
On August 28, we joined The Family Collective of the United Way of Greater Nashville along with more than 30 community organizations and government offices to launch the 100 Day Challenge. One goal of the Challenge was to house 100 Nashville-area families experiencing homelessness in 100 days. With 12 days to spare, we exceeded that goal and have housed 106 families as of November 27. Safe Haven has housed nearly half of those families.
Though we have exceeded the goal, we are not slowing down. The Challenge is just the beginning. Our coalition of community and government partners are all working in close coordination to share best practices, continue to test new ways of working together and find faster solutions for helping families. We will use data and best practices uncovered to implement an ongoing strategy to more efficiently house families in our community.
The 100 Day Challenge was unique in part for its focus on family homelessness. Family homelessness is referred to as hidden homelessness because many families are doubling up with other families, staying in their cars, shelters, etc. This less visible nature of family homelessness makes it more challenging to identify. Another goal of the Challenge was to create more awareness about family homelessness. We implemented a community-wide breakfast kickoff event, launched a social media campaign, increased collaboration with community organizations and schools, met with elected officials and garnered some media attention.
We were grateful to have The 100 Day Challenge featured in an OpEd in the Tennessean as well as a recent front-page article. We also had local news stories highlights through WKRN, News Channel 5 and Fox17. You can visit Safe Haven’s social media channels to view this media coverage.
All of the groups involved in the Challenge believe family homelessness is solvable. Our collective vision is a Nashville where family homelessness is rare, brief and nonrecurring, a concept known as “functional zero.” There will likely always be isolated instances of family homelessness in Nashville, but our goal is that when this does happen, our community will be able to respond decisively and quickly so that every family facing homelessness will immediately be connected with resources and housing. We know this vision is possible, and we have the will, energy and expertise to move towards functional zero. That being said, we cannot do it without the help of donors and housing partners. Please visit 100DayNashville.org for more information on how to get involved. Together, we will do all in our power to continue this important work and make family homelessness a rare occurrence in our community.
