Bobby pulls scrap from the malodorous rubble of the now-unrecognizable Travelers Motel. His burned-out Buick still sits in front of the ruined units, not far from where two neighbors met their end in the fire that descended upon the Gatlinburg area the evening of Nov. 28.
Bobby doesn’t want to give his last name, but he discusses that night, and his current plight, as he grimly removes piping and pulls wire in hopes of making a few extra bucks ahead of Christmas. He only got out of his room on East Parkway with his dog and his shotgun. His landlord gave him permission to extract what scrap he could find from the remains of the motel.
Some 2,500 homes, hotels, and motels were destroyed in the monstrous wildfire, which leaped from Great Smoky Mountains National Park after its start five days earlier near Chimney Tops. Fourteen people were killed and 14,000 had to flee. Sevier County officials have estimated total economic losses at $500 million. (See a map of what was destroyed in Sevier County here.)
There is no specific count on the number of people left homeless by the fire, but the loss of so many dwellings has definitely worsened the already-precarious housing situation faced by the thousands of workers who work largely hand-to-mouth jobs in the area’s tourism industry, officials say. Some hope the rebuilding effort represents an opportunity to ensure more affordable housing is available in Sevier County.
The Red Cross provided a total of 3,066 overnight stays at its seven shelters set up in Sevier County. All of those shelters are now closed after the last people left over the weekend, says Red Cross spokeswoman Suzanne Horsley. The Red Cross provided 16,000 meals in one of its largest regional responses in years. But that support is only meant to be offered in the immediate wake of disasters.
“We don’t tend to talk about where people lived before and where they’re living now,” Horsley says.
State and federal housing officials have poured into Sevier County to provide resources for emergency housing. Federal Emergency Management Agency funds are available for renters and homeowners, and the Tennessee Housing Development Agency is providing vouchers and emergency grants to those left homeless or facing homelessness.
Bobby found a home just across the street from the Travelers at another, smaller block of units managed by the same company. He also had another vehicle. He’s fared better than the 15 other permanent and transient motel-dwellers he called neighbors.
“I just got lucky because I’ve always been a real good tenant,” he says.
It’s cold and his dungarees are dirty and he’s bareheaded and there’s a scrape on his stubbled scalp. He clanks a piece of pipe onto a growing pile of scrap metal. He says he’s on disability, and been helped by both a Dolly Parton Foundation $1,000 payout last week and the clothes and supplies made available at area distribution points. He counts his blessings: “Not everybody was as fortunate as I was.”
Thomas Fraser Travelers Motel
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The Tennessee Housing Development Agency has a three-tiered response in place for those who lost homes in the fire: It is promoting tnhousingsearch.com, a listing of available homes in the area; it is distributing emergency funding of $165,000 to local homeless advocacy groups; and it is offering 50 housing vouchers that will defray the cost of rentals.
Only 17 rental units, some with waiting lists, are currently available in Sevier County, according to the website earlier this week.
The Tennessee Valley Coalition for the Homeless, Family Promise of Blount County, and Helen Ross McNabb Center have been tasked with connecting those in need of housing with resources. As of Tuesday, 12 families had been offered assistance and seven households had applied for the housing vouchers, according to THDA spokesperson Patricia Smith. Family Promise Executive Director Kathi Parkins says she is surprised by the relatively few requests for assistance so far, but thinks most want to remain closer to home.
“All their ties are to Sevier and they don’t have any transportation and they don’t have any money,” Parkins says, noting that Family Promise can still provide for some needs to those staying in Sevier County.
Some of the vouchers won’t apply to short-term rental options like motels, but getting people established in permanent housing “is more sustainable than motels in the long run,” says Katie Moore, the East Tennessee liaison for THDA.
“This provides us an actually unique opportunity,” she says. “There are so many needs for adequate sustainable housing for our service-industry staff and families, and we hope through this crisis that the end product will be more sustainable and decent, safe homes for Sevier County residents.”
She acknowledges, however, “there are no quick fixes,” while speaking at the Multi-agency Resource Center, set up last week in the former Belz outlet mall in Pigeon Forge to serve as a clearinghouse for resources available those affected by the fires. Such lasting adjustments and additions to local housing stock must wait for the work of insurance adjusters, debris removal, and eventual reconstruction, she says—and that might be a two-year process.
Timothy Hall, an employee of Ober Gatlinburg who lost his home at Creek Place efficiencies, showed up at the center seeking housing help. Ober had been paying for hotel stays for himself and other employees, but that largesse was to expire by Christmas.
“Hopefully I’ll be in a house by then,” he says. But housing options were slim in Gatlinburg and Sevier County. One option was available in Newport. “It’d be a little bit of a trek,” Hall says.
That illustrates another challenge: Housing might be available, but only in areas dozens of miles from workplaces. The East Tennessee Human Resources Agency does provide transportation services on demand in Sevier County, but only from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. ETHRA transportation director Mike Patterson says he has seen no immediate uptick in demand, but “Sevier County is always a fairly busy community for us.” One-way trips anywhere in the county cost $3.
Marci Claude, public affairs manager for the Gatlinburg Chamber of Commerce echoes—emphatically—the need to use the disaster as a springboard for more affordable housing in the community.
“I think our city and county leaders see this as an opportunity to address those affordable housing issues,” she says. She directed further inquiries to the Sevier County Economic Development Office, which did not respond to request for comment.
Now that FEMA disaster funding is available to those affected by the fires, “we can really move forward on those discussions,” Claude says.
Travelers Motel
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But for those who were already in a precarious financial position or lost their homes in short-term rentals, the challenge is immediate.
Some already faced substance-abuse or mental health issues, and many lost their cars and jobs.
“I talked to so many people who were so blank,” says Jeanine Frey, who has traveled regularly to Gatlinburg from her Lenoir City home to volunteer for the Red Cross. “Trauma will perpetuate existing conditions.”
Some people at the shelter were able to find work, but don’t have transportation. “They have so many obstacles,” she says. Some may leave the area entirely. Horsley says many victims of the Nov. 28 fires will eventually come back. “Most people, I have found, want to return to their communities,” she adds.
Meanwhile, back up at the burned-out Travelers Motel, Bobby keeps pulling scrap from the ruins of his former home of two years. He has a new home, for now, but doesn’t know what became of his neighbors after fire raced down the now-blackened forested hillside behind what are now ashy piles of lives.
“I don’t know what’s in store,” he says, stripping metal from a dead electrical line. “I’m gonna keep on doing what I’m doing.”
Knox County-based journalist Thomas Fraser is a native of Charleston, S.C. who grew up in Oak Ridge and Knoxville. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and has worked as an editor and reporter for daily newspapers and websites in Tennessee, North Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia.
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