Mayor John Cooper has appointed April Calvin as director of the Office of Homeless Services, a new department focusing on getting our unhoused neighbors in permanent homes and connected to the resources and services they need to remain in stable housing.

As director of the Office of Homeless Services, April Calvin will spearhead Metro’s homelessness response, utilizing her over 25 years of leadership and social service experience. Prior to this appointment, April served as ‘interim director’ of Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County’s Homeless Impact Division, which was a division of Metro’s Social Services Department. The Office of Homeless Services is a standalone department, with the director reporting directly to the mayor.

“It has been a privilege to work alongside April as we established Nashville as a ‘housing first’ city,” said Mayor Cooper. “She is the perfect person to lead our new department focused on finding unsheltered residents permanent homes with the resources to stay there. Homelessness is not a challenge unique to our city, but it is certainly one we are tackling head on. April’s proven leadership will allow us to continue to do so quickly, efficiently and safely.”

“In this past year, we made great strides as a community in addressing the needs of our unhoused residents,” said April Calvin, director, Office of Homeless Services. “Nashville has a community inside and outside government who cares deeply about getting our unhoused neighbors the help they need. I’m excited about this new challenge, and eager to get to work on behalf of our city’s most vulnerable.”

The creation of the Office of Homeless Service is a critical piece of Mayor Cooper’s homelessness response plan. One year ago, Mayor Cooper declared Nashville a ‘housing first’ city and announced an ambitious $50 million homelessness response plan using federal funds.

Metro is currently in the first phase of the three-year plan, and is already outpacing its goals. Last year, Metro’s Homelessness Impact Division set a goal to house 25 chronically unhoused people each month. They have met and exceeded that goal, now housing 31 per month. Additionally, 383 chronically unsheltered people are now in housing thanks to their work over the past 12 months.

The Homelessness Impact Division has also:

• housed 383 chronically unsheltered people over the last year.
• increased staff capacity by on-boarding new staff, and creating new positions focused mostly on outreach and landlord engagement;
• broken ground on an improved Metro Permanent Supportive Housing building set to open this winter;
• found housing for 54 residents of Brookmeade encampment, effectively closing the camp on Jan. 4, 2023;
• housed residents who were living at the Caldwell Wentworth Park Encampment and closed the encampment on March 15, 2023; and
• met and exceeded the goal of housing 25 chronically unhoused people each month, and now house 31 per month.