161 Lives Lost: Why Knox County's Housing Crisis Demands Urgent Action

Just a couple of weeks ago, shortly before everyone left work for the holiday season to be with family and friends and exchange gifts, the Knoxville Coalition for the Homeless honored 161 local people who died while experiencing homelessness in 2025.  The number grows every year as our county’s homelessness problem continues without improvement. 

Photo courtesy of Hannah Mattix/News Sentinel

We know what the problems are. Sure, many of these individuals have mental and behavioral health issues, including substance use disorder, and they would benefit from treatment - if they could afford it. 

But that’s not the case for every person without housing. It’s not even the case for the majority. 

According to the most recent data from the Knox Community Dashboard on Homelessness, 51% of the causes of homelessness are simply the inability to find affordable housing. The next largest cause at 11% is fleeing domestic violence. 

This is unacceptable. Homelessness is the canary in the coal mine of the housing affordability crisis. If people are dying on the streets, how many more are one bad month away from homelessness themselves? 

While we applaud the city for budgeting several million in FY 25-26 for affordable housing development, permanent supportive housing, and increasing the number of shelter beds and warming centers, we also have to point out that it still isn’t enough. The amount is also less than 10% of what was spent on public safety.

The efforts by the county and city to prioritize the “missing middle” of housing zones and mixed-use spaces in future zoning reforms are also vital steps. These efforts should make it easier to build more housing while also conserving natural spaces and local character.

We need to continue to support city and county leaders who prioritize affordable housing, both to rent and to buy. We need to continue to support zoning reforms that will use more creative solutions than the status quo of sprawling, low-density, cheaply-built, and unattainably over-priced houses that do little more than increase traffic congestion. Further, tightening the reins on short-term rentals can make sure the houses in our neighborhoods remain homes, and not just another brief tourist destination.

In short, we need to build fast but smart, and we need to prioritize people over easy profit. 

Knox Dems proudly supports county and city policymakers and candidates that are already doing this, and we aren’t taking our eyes off the federal level, either. Trump’s government can’t even affordably build a new wing of the White House, let alone affordable housing for Americans. He’s also caused unnecessary havoc by unilaterally attempting to reshape decades of housing policy through confusing and alarming executive orders that do little than encourage violence and displacement to the most vulnerable people in our society. Instead of making help and housing more affordable, the current federal government is merely punishing people for not being wealthy. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can elect policymakers at all levels of government that will prioritize affordable housing by way of building creatively, zoning wisely and fairly, and preventing soulless profiteering. Knox County is growing. People want to live here. Let’s make sure our leaders make it a place worth staying.