Council hears HMIS data: 3,821 people experienced homelessness in Nashville in February; racial disparities underscored

Hannah Cornejo Nell, the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data lead for the Office of Homeless Services, told the Homelessness Planning Council that 3,821 people experienced homelessness in Nashville in February 2024 and 7,901 unique individuals were recorded over the previous 12 months. "In February 2024, 3,821 people experienced homelessness in Nashville," she said during the council's March meeting.

Cornejo Nell said the month’s cases included 303 families and 2,608 adult-only households; 1,595 people (reported as roughly 42 percent) met the HUD definition of chronic homelessness. Of those housed in February, 173 people (81 households, including 32 families) moved into permanent housing; the HMIS record shows an average of 168 days from identification in the HMIS system to move-in for those households.

Cornejo Nell also highlighted racial disparities: overall 50 percent of people in HMIS were Black and 38 percent were White, but family homelessness was disproportionately Black (69 percent Black, 14 percent White). "When we look at families versus individual households, those racial breakdowns are very different," she said.

Council members asked whether the HMIS figures include people staying at mission shelters or people served through the domestic-violence coordinated entry (DVCE). Cornejo Nell said some mission and DVCE records are not yet fully incorporated into the HMIS extracts and that staff are working to include those data and to avoid double-counting. "At this point, we don't know how many people staying at the mission are in these numbers," she said, and noted ongoing work to reconcile those sources.

Members and staff discussed how point-in-time counts and annualized HMIS figures measure different things: point-in-time snapshots can look much smaller than year-long totals. Several council members urged continued work to include domestic-violence and mission data within coordinated reporting tools and to use partnerships (including a planned United Way prevention/diversion effort) to expand prevention and early intervention.

The HMIS report also listed the top housing-placement agencies for the month (Salvation Army, Operation Stand Down, Safe Haven Family Shelter and Catholic Charities) and noted a strong month for VASH voucher placements. Cornejo Nell said she will continue working with mission operators and DVCE partners to improve data inclusion and accuracy.

The council treated the HMIS figures as operational evidence to guide prevention, diversion and placement efforts and requested periodic updates as data coverage improves.