A one-night Davidson County homelessness count found 14 percent fewer people living on the streets and in shelters than during last year's survey.

Temperatures dropped below freezing during the Davidson County "point-in-time count," which took place on the night of January 22 and into the following morning. The results were just released recently.

Volunteers and shelter officials identified 1,401 people in shelters and 585 on the streets. Notably, the number of chronically homeless people — who are unhoused for long periods of time — contacted during the event was down 27 percent over last year.

The tally didn't include people staying in motels, hospitals, jails and in their cars, or those who were not spotted by roughly 100 participating volunteers who scoured the streets.

While community advocates agree that the decline is a positive sign, they say the outcome raises more questions about the state of homelessness across the region.

"We are excited about this but it is really a snapshot," Metro Homeless Impact Division Director Judith Tackett said. "A huge piece of the picture is missing. We don't have the capacity yet to get a bigger picture: Where are the people coming from? Where are they going?"

More data needed

This year, Metro social service officials sought to add six staff members who would develop a comprehensive data-collection system for a more complete picture of homelessness and targeted responses.

Mayor David Briley's administration did not fund the expansion.

"It's what we need," Tackett said. "The goal is that when a person is experiencing homelessness, we want to identify them as quickly as possible to see what they need and link to the right services as quickly as possible."

Metro social service officials and community organizations have steadily increased collaborative efforts in recent years. But Tackett envisions a fully integrated network of providers who can track people from the brink of homelessness and provide highly personalized services.

Like the point-in-time count, this Homeless Management Information System is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Continuum of Care program. Davidson County's HMIS received some federal funding but not enough for a robust system.

'There is a larger housing crisis'

Room In The Inn Executive Director Rachel Hester said thorough data collection is needed to fine-tune community resources.

"If we don't look at homelessness data as important — just like we look at economic development and educational data, we're going to continue to throw band-aids at it," Hester said. "We can't keep addressing it the way we addressed it 30 years ago. We've got to become more collaborative and leverage all our resources."

Hester said there has not been a notable decline or increase in the number of homeless people seeking resources from Room in the Inn last year or this year.

A 2017 Metro report found that 31,000 affordable housing units are needed by 2025 to offset those lost in the population and development boom that favors luxury properties.

In March, Briley announced a $500 million affordable housing investment to create 10,000 low-income units over the next decade. He has also pledged $24 million to build 100 transitional housing units downtown with supportive services for the homeless.

As the urban core has quickly replaced older housing with new upscale construction, low-income residents have increasingly moved to outlying Metro areas.

Williamson County nonprofit organizations and outreach workers have reported increases in the number of homeless people there. A new coalition is now working to create the county’s first permanent, year-round homeless shelter.

"There is a larger housing crisis so there are people now on the economic cliff who could become homeless with one lost paycheck," Hester said. "We cannot look at Davidson County as a silo. We have to look at how gentrification is affecting our area."

Sandy Mazza can be reached via email at smazza@tennessean.com, by calling 615-726-5962, or on Twitter @SandyMazza.