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With a national advocacy group reporting that homelessness is on the rise in Tennessee, despite an overall reduction nationwide, local efforts to establish a Family Promise program in Blount County are taking on new urgency.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness last week released its second Homelessness Counts report. According to the report, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Maryland reported the highest increases, with Kentucky reporting the largest increase at over 60 percent. Tennessee saw a 38.98 increase in its homeless population from 2005 to 2007, according to the report.

The report shows a 10 percent decrease in homelessness overall in the nation, from 744,313 per night in January 2005 to 671,859 per night in January 2007. This includes a 28 percent decrease in chronic, long-term homelessness and an 18 percent decrease in family homelessness.

"This report shows that by focusing more on housing we had begun to end homelessness," said Nan Roman, NAEH president. "But the recession and mortgage crisis threaten this hard-fought progress. We have to take what we have learned about how to end homelessness and apply it to the current crisis so that we don't incur a whole new generation of homeless people."

According to the NAEH, practices that have achieved the greatest reductions in homelessness include rapid re-housing, supportive housing for people with disabilities and assistance to prevent low-income people from losing their housing.

In Blount County, a local group is working to establish a program, based on the national Family Promise program, that would allow local churches to network together to provide overnight accommodations and meals for homeless families on a rotating basis, said Susan Hughes, who heads up the volunteer effort.

Training included

Family Promise will not be a homeless shelter but "a hand-up" for families who find themselves in temporary economic trouble, she said.

"It's not a shelter environment," Hughes said. "It's about helping families gain some training and some social services ... (to) help them with their resumes, help them locate employment, help them find housing that is affordable to them."

The families that Family Promise will serve could be anyone, Hughes said. "They are your neighbors, your family members -- those who have been put in a temporary economic bind where they have no more support ,,, and find themselves sleeping in their cars or under bridges to find shelter."

The average stay for families in Family Promise programs nationwide is 52 days. "That is under the three-month window we have, which speaks volumes," she said.

Ideally, the families are in the program for no more than three months. The families are required to seek employment and housing. Not working toward independence means termination from the program. Families are referred to Family Promise through the school systems, social services and various non-profit organizations.

The Family Promise programs have an 80 percent success rate "for getting these families through the program and back into self-sustaining situations," Hughes said.

According to the Homelessness Counts report, in January 2007, 42 percent of homeless people in the U.S. were unsheltered -- sleeping on the street or in places otherwise not meant for human habitation such as cars, woods, campsites and abandoned buildings.

According to the report, the states with the highest percentage of unsheltered homeless people are California, Nevada and Michigan.

Green Meadow United Methodist Church, 1633 Louisville Road in Alcoa, will give families a place to stay during the day while they look for housing and work. The location will serve as a day center to provide a stable telephone number, mailing address and a base of operations for participants.

The church community has agreed to make $17,000 in modifications to the facility, including the installation of separate showers, to serve as a day center.

Volunteers had originally hoped that the Family Promise program would be in operation by August 2008, but the new target is summer 2009. The group is still raising funds. It needs at least $50,000 to $60,000 available before starting operations.

The churches that have agreed to participate so far are Maryville First United Methodist, Friendsville First Baptist, Sycamore Tree United Methodist, Fairview United Methodist, Carpenter's Campground United Methodist, First Baptist Church of Maryville, St. Andrew's Episcopal and Monte Viste Baptist Church.

If 13 churches participated, each church would host from three to five families for a week each quarter. Budgets for each church would be between $200 and $250 each week.

Hughes said the efforts to establish the program are progressing. There will be meetings soon about proceeding on the upgrades to Green Meadow for the day center, and there are plans for fundraisers as well. The group has been receiving charitable contributions.

There is a shelter in Blount County that serves men and women separately, but there is no place that takes families as a whole. Family Promise would allow families to stay together.