05/23/2026
From Chattanooga Times Free Press:
Chatt Foundation unveils four potential locations for homeless shelter. See where
by Siena Duncan
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / The Chatt Foundation is pictured. This is one of four proposed locations by Chatt Foundation CEO Baron King for a low-barrier shelter in Chattanooga.
The Chatt Foundation, one of the largest service providers to homeless people in the city, has identified four potential locations for a large low-barrier shelter and shared those proposals with city officials, the nonprofit's CEO, Baron King, said in an interview.
But Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly's administration isn't convinced a large shelter would be effective, and it may become an ongoing expense siphoning resources away from other programs, said Ellis Smith, the city's director of intergovernmental affairs.
"Further, many of our residents have expressed fear that the wrong type of shelter may actually exacerbate homelessness in Chattanooga as other municipalities illegally transport their homeless residents to the city," Smith said.
Low-barrier shelters aim to provide shelter to individuals experiencing homelessness by removing or diminishing barriers to entry and continued residency, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The model is particularly important for people who use drugs because they are often not served by traditional shelter models.
The local Homeless Coalition's most recent report, from 2025, says about 85% of the people the organization tracks through its intake system reported living in Southeast Tennessee before becoming homeless. Casey Tinker, the city's director of homeless initiatives, has said during public meetings that the amount of people who are homeless in Chattanooga who were not originally city residents is about 10% to 15%, depending on the month.
Photo Gallery
Chatt Foundation unveils four potential locations for homeless shelter.
See where (https://www.timesfreepress.com/photos/galleries/2026/may/22/chatt-foundation-unveils-four-potential-locations-for-homeless-shelter-see-where/)
Staff File Photo by Matt Hamilton / Police look through a homeless camp on Ho**er Road.
(READ MORE: Amid speculation, data indicates most people using homeless services are from Hamilton County) (https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2023/nov/19/amid-speculation-data-indicates-most-people-using/)
There are anywhere from 700 to 1,000 people who are homeless on a given day in Hamilton County, according to data from the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition.
A Chattanooga Times Free Press analysis (https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2026/may/02/chattanooga-area-homeless-more-likely-to-be/) found that the county — and the broader Southeast Tennessee region — has about 3 temporary shelter beds for every 10 homeless people, with most service providers saying the majority of the region's homelessness is concentrated in Chattanooga.
Hamilton County also has an unsheltered rate — meaning the percentage of homeless people who are sleeping outside rather than in shelter beds — two to three times higher than other counties that include major Tennessee cities like Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis.
Most of the Chatt Foundation's shelter location proposals would have the capacity to sleep up to 500 single men and women, King said. He added that could significantly alter the homeless shelter landscape in the city, in his view.
"A 24/7 low-barrier shelter would be a game-changer because nothing like this exists," King said.
FOUR PROPOSALS
The city set aside $2.8 million in pandemic relief funds several years ago to build a low-barrier shelter, according to its website. In an emailed statement in March, the Mayor's Office wrote that the money is still set aside for shelter purposes — though in response to another more recent email inquiry Friday, Smith, one of Kelly's top advisors, did not answer whether those particular funds were still set aside. He instead wrote that $2.4 million would be budgeted for a shelter project in the upcoming fiscal year.
These are the low-barrier shelter proposals, according to Chatt Foundation documents:
— A new build on a city-owned lot on the corner of 12th Street and Peeples Street. A $2 million investment from the city for construction of a 15,000-square-foot facility, with a $3.75 million total construction cost. The city would pledge $500,000 to annual operating costs. Capacity of 500-600 people.
— Demolition and new construction on a part of the Chatt Foundation's existing campus at 717 E. 11th St. A $3 million investment from the city for construction of a 12,000-square-foot facility, with a $5 million total construction cost. The city would pledge $700,000 to annual operating costs. Capacity of 500 people.
— Purchase and renovation of a 17,000-square-foot warehouse at 1212 Peeples St. A $2 million investment from the city for the cost of buying the building and subsequent renovations, with a $3.27 million total cost. The city would pledge $500,000 to annual operating costs. Capacity of 500-600 people.
— Renovation of city-owned 5,300-square-foot Family Promise building at 1184 Baldwin St. A $700,000 investment from the city to renovate the building. That amount is projected to cover the total cost. The city would pledge $200,000 to annual operating costs. Capacity of 80 people.
All of the options are within a few blocks of the Chatt Foundation's services, giving homeless people direct access to meals and case management, King said, though the nonprofit would plan to hire a new fleet of case managers for shelter residents.
Of the four, King said his ideal scenario would be a completely new build on the city-owned lot. The Chatt Foundation, the city and other homeless service providers could work together to design it from the ground up, he said, allowing them to create a space that could be successful transitioning people into housing.
"You could have cheaper utility costs," King said. "You could actually build everything the way you would need it."
The location is in the lot where a sanctioned homeless encampment was run (https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2023/aug/08/chattanooga-wind-down-sanctioned-homeless-camp-tfp/) for about two years by a nonprofit contracted by the city. It was eventually closed down — city officials have said that it was meant to be a temporary measure.
Once the construction is finished on the hypothetical new shelter, the proposal says the city would preferably donate the building to the Chatt Foundation.
The option to build on or over the nonprofit's existing campus is also appealing, King said, but it would be the most expensive option overall. The Chatt Foundation buildings are over a century old. In order to provide space for 500 people, the nonprofit would likely have to demolish a section of its one-story campus and then rebuild for several stories, he said.
King sees it likely going where the Maclellan Shelter for Families is, which is the Chatt Foundation's option for emergency shelter for families.
That shelter is going to phase out operations over the next couple years as a new emergency shelter for families starts up in the location of Airport Inn on Lee Highway. The old hotel building will transform into Provident Place (https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2026/may/19/city-to-donate-former-airport-inn-as-homeless/), opening up room for around 125 emergency beds for homeless families.
King is looking at options to possibly remake the Chatt Foundation's family shelter into a spot for homeless veterans or homeless disabled people — unless the city buys in for a large low-barrier shelter for men and women in its place, he said.
His least favorite idea is the smallest, cheapest option in the Family Promise building, he said. Only making room for 80 people would not move the needle when there are likely hundreds of homeless people just within the vicinity of the Chatt Foundation.
"You really don't alleviate the community homeless problem," King said. "You reduce it."
MAYOR'S OFFICE REACTION
This is the first time King has laid out documentation for the city of multiple site location proposals for a shelter, he said. Still, throughout several years of working with the Kelly administration on a shelter plan, he has sometimes felt like his optimism about the project is actually naivete.
"The only history I have is that we're going to have some conversations but no action," King said.
The Mayor's Office rejects the premise that the Kelly administration isn't dedicated to shelter options, Smith wrote in his email.
"It's particularly difficult to take seriously the implication that the city doesn't place a high value on a shelter," Smith wrote, "given that it has been mere days since the city announced a new shelter in the form of Provident Place, in which the city has invested millions of dollars."
The city bought Airport Inn on Lee Highway for $2.7 million in 2021, with the plan that it would eventually become supportive housing for homeless residents, though there were several stops and starts along the way. Officials recently announced the building would be donated to Grateful Gobbler, a charity organization, and the Maclellan Foundation would move its family shelter operations into the building and expand them as the Provident Place shelter.
The city provides financial support for the Chatt Foundation's cold weather shelter and another family transitional shelter option that requires referrals, Chattanooga Room at the Inn, Smith said. Money is still set aside, he said, for some kind of new shelter option that would likely be run in partnership with the Chatt Foundation.
Still, the city must stretch its contributions across several parts of the housing and shelter ecosystem to be effective, he said. Affordable housing is key, he said. That's why the city has invested in programs to help with down payments and utility bills, plus a variety of tax incentive programs for developers to keep units below market rates.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga Housing Authority seeks $7.7M loan, promises 2K public housing units over five years) (https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2026/may/21/chattanooga-housing-authority-seeks-77m-loan/)
"Without a sufficient supply of homes for people to live in, it's not yet clear that a new low-barrier shelter at this juncture is the solution that will have the most significant effect on reducing homelessness," Smith said in the email. "Rather than a temporary stay on an emergency basis, there's a risk that an additional shelter becomes just an overcrowded taxpayer-funded building full of people waiting for a train that never comes, if there isn't access to sufficient housing capacity in which to place them.
"The fiduciary risk is that such a building would require significant funds to not only build but operate on an annual basis that could otherwise go to a myriad of other homelessness and housing interventions that, in the current environment, could do more to help keep more people from sleeping outside," Smith continued. "These are the trade-offs that we discuss on a regular basis with Mr. King and our many other partners."
In the email, Smith elaborated on the idea that people who are homeless in Chattanooga may not necessarily be from the city, saying it shouldn't be the city's responsibility to take care of other municipalities' problems.
"Some are illegally sent here from other cities, others arrive via Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute," Smith wrote in his email Friday, "and many are evicted right here in Chattanooga because they can't keep up with the rent, the mortgage or a financial shock in their life."
The city is working with limited resources during a year where officials are trying to maintain a flat budget, and federal programs that provide public housing funding and housing vouchers have been cut back, he said.
"We receive ideas and requests for funding for every conceivable type of project every day," Smith said. "Even if the taxpayers wanted us to fund all of them, which they do not, we'd have a budget the size of Alaska and a crushing tax burden that in turn would likely create more homelessness."
Smith said the city hasn't seen evidence of community support for any of the low-barrier shelter proposals on the table. There needs to be significant buy-in for a shelter to sustain itself long term, Smith said.
"That said, from the administration's own conversations, there does seem to be growing resident and council support for shelter solutions that address specific segments of the homeless population," he said, "such as a shelter for veterans, the elderly or a shelter for those with chronic medical conditions, for example."
Contact city and county reporter Siena Duncan at mailto:[email protected] or 423-757-6354 (tel:423-757-6354).
Siena Duncan (https://www.timesfreepress.com/staff/siena-duncan)
mailto:[email protected]
Siena Duncan reports on the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County for the Times Free Press. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Florida, where she earned Hearst, Mark of Excellence and Sunshine State awards. When she's not writing, she's attempting to pet her ornery cat Soup or getting lost in the mountains.
The Chatt Foundation, one of the largest service providers to homeless people in the city, has identified four potential locations for a large low-barrier shelter and shared those proposals with city officials, the nonprofit's CEO, Baron King, said in an interview.
