Homelessness Social Video

The homeless population of Knoxville has consistently grown over the past several years, with shelters offering help but many times having to turn people away if they are sick or for a variety of other reasons. In the most recent report by Knoxville Homeless Management Information Services, 9,183 people accessed homeless services in 2018, a 3 percent increase from the year before. The actual homeless population is likely much higher as many homeless people do not access these services, and in some cases, they are turned away.  This community has been affected recently by a variety of issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, cold temperatures, and interference from law enforcement. A report from Knox News reveals that in October of 2020, the Knox County police disbanded a homeless encampment underneath I-40 E without providing much of a solution for where they could go, as many of these shelters are already overcrowded. Many of these people who have not been so fortunate to receive services from homeless shelters in the city of Knoxville line Broadway St. across from Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries, as they now have no other place to stay. 

Upon visiting the former homeless encampment under I-40, there were still a few homeless people gathering around the area. The sound of cars from the interstate above was deafening and a group of five or six people were gathered around a heroin needle. But that is not a fair representation of all of these people, as many of them have been placed in these circumstances outside of their control. There was one woman named Piper, 28 years old, who has been homeless in Knoxville for about three years. She became homeless after she was in a car accident and had to use all of her money to fix the car, resulting in her being evicted from her house. She describes this former encampment as a “tent city” where a lot of the people felt a sense of family. She says, “once you go under that bridge, it will always pull you back. All we have out here is each other.”