KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville’s largest homeless shelter, Knox Area Rescue Ministries, is placing a bigger emphasis on housing. Leaders said they’ve placed more people than ever, but the need continues to grow.
Terry Bray runs the AfterCare program, which helps former guests transition into permanent housing. He said one issue they face after placing former guests is their returning to homelessness.
“When someone in crisis comes to us for help at KARM, we’re able to give them a period of healing and of rest and gather people around them that care for them and support them and encourage them,” he said. “So, they go from being housed with 250 to 300 other people each day, always having daytime activities, having a place to sleep at night to moving into an apartment with no furniture and no provisions and so they’re staring at four walls, they’re alone and isolated and no one.”…