MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) — As Rutherford County Schools (RCS) continue to fill, the number of students that struggling with homelessness has grown.
According to data from RCS, the district has roughly 1,400 students struggling with homelessness. That’s up by more than 400 students compared to this time last year.
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Greenhouse Ministries interacts with several of these families firsthand.
“I think what has become normal for them is crisis mode,” Greenhouse Ministries executive director Christy Sanford said.
Sandford said that jobs paying between $15 and $20 per hour no longer provide enough income to raise a family in Rutherford County. Reentering housing is also a major challenge considering application fees, deposits and the need to pay the first month’s rent.
“We were serving around 35 to 40 families averaging a day, and we noticed — beginning this March — that it was starting to go up quite significantly,” Sanford added. “So now, we’re averaging between 70 and 75 families a day.”