Mayor John Cooper announces Nashville's cold weather plan; former jail to be used as overflow shelter

Holly Meyer | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Nashville's mayor decides to open emergency homeless shelters this winter. When Nashville's temperatures drop below 28 degrees this winter, shelters for the homeless will not be open. Officials cited a lack of funding.

The city has a new cold weather plan to provide warm shelter for those experiencing homelessness.

Mayor John Cooper announced Thursday in a news release that the overflow sheltering plan will be executed when the temperature is predicted to dip below 29 degrees. The city will base that decision off of the local National Weather Service office's forecast.

"The Cold Weather Task Force has been working expeditiously with stakeholders and our nonprofit partners to ensure that we have a plan in place to help provide access to a warm, safe bed for anyone experiencing homelessness in Nashville during cold winter nights," Cooper said in the news release.

The city's overflow shelter, which has a maximum capacity of 150 people, will be located in a vacant Davidson County Sheriff's Office dormitory, the news release states. It is located at 5131 Harding Place, which is the same address listed for the sheriff's office offender re-entry center.

DCSO spokesperson Mark Preville said an unused facility that previously housed inmates on work release programs would serve as the overflow shelter when the other shelter spaces were full. Preville said inmates at the facility had been relocated a few months ago.

City says other sites 'not adequately suited' to housing groups

The location was picked because the building was constructed specifically to house people, the news release said. It has a commercial kitchen, bathroom and shower facilities, laundry access and the ability to accommodate pets.

"Past overflow shelter sites were housed in multi-purpose facilities that were not adequately suited to provide overnight group housing services," the news release states.

Transportation will be available to the overflow shelter, the news release states. The heated staging area will be at Riverfront Station at 101 1st Avenue South and will be in operation from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The mayor's office first announced a different location of the staging area on Friday morning.

Law enforcement will be available to take people to the overflow shelter after hours and community partners will be given details on after hours drop-off procedures.

The details of the city's new cold weather shelter plan comes about three weeks after Cooper promised to fully fund and operate the city's emergency shelters this winter. His promise came just a day after widespread concern over a decision to keep them closed due to a lack of funds.

The cold weather overflow shelter plan runs through March 31. The agencies involved in creating the plan include the sheriff's office, Metro Social Services, the Office of Emergency Management and Metro Public Works.

The overflow shelter will start receiving guests once the primary community partner shelters hit maximum capacity, the news release said.

If it is activated, the shelter is expected to be open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and will include beds, blankets, pillows, dinnertime meal service, shower facilities, boarding kennels and dog food, a fenced-in yard for pets and security provided by local law enforcement agencies.

Once they leave, each guest will receive a free bus pass that can be used at the nearby bus stop.

Adam Tamburin contributed to this report.

Reach Holly Meyer at hmeyer@tennessean.com or 615-259-8241 and on Twitter @HollyAMeyer.