‘Just not recoverable’: Nashville nonprofits worry about changes to HUD homelessness grants

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Mary Parrish Center in Nashville gets a little more than half a million dollars from the federal government to support their temporary and permanent housing programs for survivors who are leaving domestic violence situations.

But now, that funding is at risk because of new changes to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) homelessness grant programs.

HUD announced the changes focused on shifting priority for grants from organizations with a housing-first approach to those that take a treatment-first approach, requiring clients to be working or in support services in order to get housing.

In a press release, HUD said the changes were aimed at promoting “self-sufficiency among vulnerable Americans.”

Executive Director Mary Katherine Rand says the Mary Parrish Center does not currently have any requirement that their clients use support services, and there’s a reason for that.

“Mandated services are recreating those power and control dynamics that survivors are trying to leave,” Rand said.

In fact, she says under the Violence Against Women Act and the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, domestic violence shelter organizations can’t legally impose service requirements.

“Agencies get extra points for mandating services and will be penalized for not mandating services,” Rand said. “That is something that, by law, we are barred from doing, and so we would be penalized for something like that.”

The Mary Parrish Center has 10 transitional housing units where clients can live for free for up to a year after leaving an interpersonal violence situation. They also have a rapid rehousing program that helps people leaving domestic violence find a place to live and supports them financially while they get back on their feet.

Rand says in her experience, clients are motivated to move out of temporary housing and work to pay rent on their own even without work or service requirements.

“Our average length of stay in transitional housing, even though you can stay for up to a year, it’s six months,” she said. “So people are really ready to move on. They’re ready to move into permanent housing. In our permanent housing programs, they do pay their own rent, and so every single survivor has a step-down plan. Every month they pay a portion of their rent, and it steps down until the end and until they are completely paying on their own.”

The organization prioritizes those in very high-risk situations, often people who are afraid their abuser could kill them. Right now, Rand says there are more than 300 households on the list for housing.

“Once people go through coordinated entry, they could get referred to one of our housing programs, another housing program in the community,” Rand said. “Sometimes they’re able to resolve on their own. Sometimes they could end up on the street. They could end up back with an abusive partner.”

If the Mary Parrish Center loses federal funding, Rand says they won’t be able to keep operating their housing programs.

“If any of those programs got cut funding-wise, that is just not recoverable for us,” she said. “We are not able to make up that large of a funding gap, and so those programs would just be eliminated.”

On Monday, the city of Nashville announced it would be joining a nationwide lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from making the changes to HUD homelessness grants. The case now heads to federal court, where a judge will decide whether to pause the new HUD rules. Metro Nashville expects a hearing date to by the end of the week.

If you or someone you know is struggling with domestic violence, help is available. Speak with someone on the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.

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