Despite numbers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development showing a 20 percent decrease in homeless families in Tennessee, city numbers and anecdotal evidence from a local organization show an increase in families without shelter in Knoxville.
According to the Knoxville Community Dashboard on Homelessness, 97 families became homeless for the first time in the third quarter of 2018.
At Family Promise, a Knoxville organization that works with faith communities to help families experiencing homelessness, they have more than 300 people on their wait list.
Executive Director Mary LeMense said the federal numbers don't include some of the most common places homeless families live.
"Our families are homeless and then they live with family or friends and then they pay for a cheap motel room until the money is drained," she said.
Family Promise has 80 families on its waiting list - a number that is lower because families are less likely to be homeless during the holidays.
"With family homelessness, people try to bunk up with other family members instead of having kids be out on a car or in the street but that doesn't work for long periods of time," LeMense said.
That means in just a few months Family Promise expects a surge in families that need help finding a home.
"Everybody wants to help at Christmas, but come back and see us in March or February or the summer. Homelessness is year round, not just at Christmas," she said."