The City Council on Tuesday night voted to approve up to $50,000 for continued housing of displaced residents of the Budgetel Inn in East Ridge.
At the same time, council members decried the "human crisis" caused by the abrupt Nov. 16 eviction of 188 adults and 106 children from the motel. District Attorney Coty Wamp had it closed as a public nuisance, while citing numerous police calls there.
Councilwoman Jenny Hill termed it "a man-made disaster." She said the same facility was suddenly shut down on Sept. 10, 2015, when it was then known as the Superior Creek Lodge. She said of the earlier move, "It was appalling."
She said, "I am very upset that this has now happened twice in seven years. I am just deeply sad that this happened."
Councilwoman Hill said she was "deeply bothered" that the city of East Ridge was not listed as one of the agencies working to find housing for the displaced and had not provided any funds toward that housing.
She said, "If a municipality can't get some stuff together, maybe hey should just dissolve."
Officials said it has been costing about $65,000 every two weeks to pay hotel bills for the displaced.
The County Commission is also being asked to provide up to $50,000 and will discuss the issue on Wednesday.
On the day of the evictions, there were 75 hotel rooms secured for the displaced with most coming from the Super 8 and others at the Chatt Inn and the Econo Lodge among others.
Seven of those who had to move were on Hospice, it was stated.
Officials said a mother of 14-year-old twins who had been staying at the Budgetel afterward died. They said "stress" could have contributed to her death.
They said the Chattanooga Housing Authority has been working to find places for some of the displaced and Housing Navigators have been seeking to locate permanent housing for them. Officials said the hotel costs should continue to go down.
City officials answered these questions about the help for the displaced:
Q: Is the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition making money off of this tragedy?
A: No. The Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition is not a standalone agency, but
rather acts as a fiscal agent for a large coalition of more than a dozen nonprofit
organizations who service the homelessness sector across an 11-county region. In
Chattanooga, the Coalition has more than 1,400 homeless individuals in its database who it and its partners are serving.
The organization receives significant federal and local funding, which allows it to
coordinate and pass through funding to support the activities of subrecipient
organizations. Because its operations and staffing are already funded through other
means, 100% of both private and public funds collected to temporarily house residents
displaced from the Budgetel will go toward that keeping residents in hotels, which will be audited and verified by the City.
Q: The number of residents being served by service providers is different from
those on the hotel’s room logs. Why the discrepancy?
A: While the Budgetel may have had an inadequate registry, the omission of some
family members from hotel logs is not uncommon, particularly in low-cost and
extended stay motels. For the protection of minors, the City of Chattanooga is only
sharing the names of heads of households. However, this does not change the fact
that the City’s Office of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (OHSH), the United
Way, Hamilton County Schools and others have actively verified that each resident
was displaced from the Budgetel before approaching the Coalition for hotel approval.
Lastly, as the City’s OHSH team places residents into permanent housing, the number
of residents in hotels will continue to change and trend downward over time.
Q: You said that the families currently staying in hotels were verified as having
been displaced from the Budgetel. How was this verified?
A: The majority of households (55) were placed into temporary hotels on the day of
the Budgetel’s closure by the City of Chattanooga’s OHSH staff who were on the
scene. Of the people placed afterwards, 49 were on the official registry and 18 were
verified by social workers of other organizations that required documentations of the
resident’s stay. This documentation could be a receipt, documentations of payment by
a third party, or verification of cohabitation with other hotel guests.
As of today, there are 110 hotel rooms being utilized with a total of 269 people. This
number will continue to fall as families are placed into homes.
Q: The Budgetel hotel was shut down because of the large number of calls for
service at that location, and several residents had criminal records or were sex
offenders. How can we be sure that we’re not supporting criminals and criminal
behavior?
A: There are residents who have already paid their debt to society living in every single
district across our community. And as with every large community, the Budgetel was
surely home to a number of bad actors who caused a disproportionate burden on
surrounding residents. However, this does not change the fact that working families with
children were also making their lives there, and as a result of this government dislocation have lost their livelihoods and their home, however imperfect those things may have been. The Coalition and its partners prioritized helping families with children and people with medical issues.
Q: Is this a wise use of taxpayer resources? Are taxpayers on the hook going forward
for the cost to house these residents?
A: Homelessness is an extremely expensive problem for any community, often involving
indigent medical care, public safety expenses, re-housing costs, as well as costs to
businesses and private property owners. From a cost perspective, a few thousand dollars to get someone back on their feet and paying taxes is much cheaper than the tens of thousands of dollars an unhoused person may cost the community in unreimbursed care. And it is both faster and cheaper to permanently house someone who is in a hotel versus someone who is living on the street.
In this case, many of these former Budgetel residents were working and self-paying, and are capable of getting back to work, so this investment will give service providers time to get them re-housed and re-employed, placing them into a stable situation where they will once again contribute much-needed labor to the local economy.
Q: Why is this money needed? Why can’t the Homeless Coalition repurpose other
money?
A: As with most grant dollars, the money taken in by the Homeless Coalition comes with
certain stipulations as to how it may be used. For instance, the Flexible Housing Fund, which helps defray move-in costs for residents exiting homelessness, is specifically prohibited from being used for hotel/motel expenses, and is designated for permanent housing only. As far as federal government assistance to residents, that is also insufficient. For instance, the average disability payment is only $843 per month, which, even if residents had no other costs, would by itself be insufficient to pay for housing.
With a spending rate currently estimated at $65,000 every two weeks, this emergency funding supplement will support about one month of the needed three-month runway needed to place 75% of residents into permanent housing. The remaining 25% are expected to self-resolve in line with typical trends.
Q: Shouldn’t we be directing resources to other needs, such as families displaced by
fires in the homes, or other emergencies?
A: Recurring needs such as house fires are already budgeted for and addressed by agencies such as the Salvation Army, Red Cross, and the other agencies that make up the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition.
Those agencies typically refer affected residents to the City’s Office of Homelessness and
Supportive Housing, and/or the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition, after their
resources are exhausted and/or they need to access the Flexible Housing Fund for relocation purposes.
However, in large-scale displacements, such as the Budgetel, or recently with Patten Towers, typical day-to-day funding is insufficient to handle such a large influx of residents who need immediate emergency assistance.