NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Homelessness in the Nashville area has increased within the past year, and city leaders are revisiting whether COVID-19 response pods could provide shelter.

The pods, purchased with a state grant during the pandemic, have been sitting at the Nashville Office of Emergency Management for two years, collecting dust. Metro’s Homeless Planning Council sought nonprofit partners to operate them earlier this year through a request for proposals, but no groups applied.

“[With] this economy and everything going on, there are more people on the streets,” said Meredith MacLeod Jaulin, co-founder of Shower the People, a nonprofit that provides mobile showers and laundry services across the Metro area.

Jaulin said her group would be interested in running a pod program — if t

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