Hub City homeless shelter faces uncertainty after being put on hold

JACKSON, Tenn. — An initiative to get a homeless shelter in the Hub City is being put on hold.

A new homeless shelter was set to be renovated on East College Street across from the library with March 9th’s motion to allocate $600,000 to the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to move plans forward for renovations.

The CRA would buy the building and Tennessee Homeless Solutions was going to be running the operation.

According to Amy McDonald, director for Tennessee Homeless Solutions, in the CRA meeting Tuesday morning, there was no motion to secure the initial contract on East College Street.

“There was no issue with the financing of the renovations, but when it came time to vote they just didn’t make a motion. They didn’t say anything,” said McDonald.

Mayor Scott Conger tells us the CRA didn’t have enough information to move a motion on the matter. He says the decision didn’t go through a subcommittee.

“I was speaking at a conference yesterday when I got notified the CRA did not approve that. I’m not on the CRA. The only control mechanism the city has is appointing the board members to the CRA,” said Mayor Conger.

McDonald tells us she hasn’t received a response regarding how the city will move forward.

“I did send an email to the council yesterday because the deadline to close on the building is this afternoon,” said McDonald.

Mayor Conger says the city council is not involved in CRA decision making.

“The council passed their portion of it and allocated the money and everything so that decision was on the CRA not to pursue,” said Mayor Conger.

It’s not clear what plans the city has to move forward with homeless initiatives, but city officials hope to resolve the matter soon.

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