Mayor Paul Young says he's 'committed to the mission' of helping unhoused in Memphis

Brooke Muckerman, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Updated ·3 min read
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The Memphis Sports and Events Center was crowded Thursday morning but not with athletes warming up for games or practices. Service providers from around Memphis and Shelby County packed the courts with tables, medical tents and even employment opportunities for Project Homeless Connect.

Community Alliance for the Homeless hosted the annual event after the Point-In-Time Count for unhoused individuals to be provided with services all housed in one space. People who were identified as homeless during the morning count, whether that be in shelter spaces or on the street, were invited to the event to have the option of getting anything from housing to an eye exam.

Before the event opened, Mayor Paul Young gave a welcome speech stating that his administration is committed to aiding those who are experiencing homelessness.

"This is something that I really feel personally, because as some of you may know, I have a brother that is experiencing homelessness in Nashville," Young said. "I know the woes of a family member that's trying to help somebody that, you know, is experiencing these conditions that is preventing them from moving down that trajectory."

Mayor Paul Young speaks to the assembled volunteers and organizers at the start of Project Homeless Connect at the Memphis Sports and Events Center in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, January 25, 2024.
Mayor Paul Young speaks to the assembled volunteers and organizers at the start of Project Homeless Connect at the Memphis Sports and Events Center in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, January 25, 2024.

Young said that his administration isn't opposed to putting money towards a shelter, but added it is also important to look at the operational side of addressing homelessness.

"It is not just building a facility, it's ensuring that you have the resources to operate the facility ongoing and that's where I think the partnerships come into play," Young said. "And we certainly want to work with organizations that are in this room and outside of this room to find out ways to do more."

How the count works

Every year on a select night in January, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires continuum of care agencies, like CAFTH, to count all visible homeless people. This is referred to as the point-in-time count.

The point-in-time count, done during the early morning, is a factor that helps drive funding toward agencies that help those who are unhoused as well as track the progress of a locality in getting people into housing. The higher the number, the more money is allocated to agencies because of population demand.

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The number of people homeless in any given city is hard to determine for several factors. If someone has access to a car they can sleep there, they can couch surf with friends and family or they opt to seek shelter in abandoned buildings.

Kirsten Hipkins, Continuum of Care Coordinated Entry Director at CAFTH, said that HUD recognizes that the methodology is not 100% perfect, and they recommend reevaluating the practice often so that those who are unreachable can be reached.

Donavon Ward, a barbering student at Tennessee College of Applied Technology, gives an unhoused man a hair cut during the Project Homeless Connect event at the Memphis Sports and Events Center in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, January 25, 2024.
Donavon Ward, a barbering student at Tennessee College of Applied Technology, gives an unhoused man a hair cut during the Project Homeless Connect event at the Memphis Sports and Events Center in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, January 25, 2024.

Young said the point-in-time count is very important, but he recognized that some people might be "missed."

"But, given that we've done the count many years in the past, we still have a good average of what the population is...We are going to use that number as a basis but we understand that there may be more," Young said.

'Too many Indians, and not enough chiefs'

Kendall Cooper, a second-year student at Southern College of Optometry, checks the health of the front surface of an unhoused man’s eyes during the Project Homeless Connect event at the Memphis Sports and Events Center in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, January 25, 2024. The students were giving any of the unhoused attendees a comprehensive eye exam and they could leave with a free pair of glasses.

As individuals arrived, they were connected with a "navigator" who helped them move from table to table for various services and connect with the organizations that could address their needs.

One unhoused person, who asked not to be named due to concerns about losing their shelter position, said that there are so many organizations in Memphis but there is no true leader.

They went on to say that oftentimes, there is an assumption that unhoused people all have the same story, but that is not the case. Not every unhoused person is addicted to drugs, more often than not unhoused people fall on hard times and are unable to get back on their feet, they said.

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at (901) 484-6225, brooke.muckerman@commercialappeal.com and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Project Homeless Connect helps link unhoused in Memphis with services