On the Home Front

OTN is an interfaith homeless outreach and advocacy nonprofit that has helped residents of local encampments and low-income tenants organize and win numerous campaigns since its founding in 2011. OTN also runs the TN Solidarity Network for Housing and Homelessness, a statewide network of service providers, community organizations, and faith communities. In addition to its organizing and direct service work, OTN also conducts trainings on topics such as trauma-informed de-escalation, active listening and motivational interviewing, and winter homeless outreach. 

The state of Tennessee enacted a law in 2022 that makes it a felony to camp on public property, including state-owned property. On September 9, 2024, signs were posted at Old Tent City, an encampment around the I-24 overpass that has existed for more than 40 years, to inform its residents that they would need to vacate the property no later than September 13. Demolition was set to begin on September 16, leaving Old Tent City’s approximately 120 residents with mere days to move their belongings and find alternative lodging.  

“It’s wrong; they are violating our rights,” said Vanessa Hamrick-Carey, a three-year resident of Old Tent City, in response to the announced clearing. “We did not choose to become homeless, okay? This is a circumstance that happened to us, and we’re trying to build ourselves up, and the way I see it, all they’re doing is tearing us down… They think we’re all addicts or alcoholics, and that’s not the case. It’s just we’ve hit on hard times, and this is where we landed.”  

After the signs were posted throughout the encampment, OTN immediately sprang into action to organize and mobilize the residents of Old Tent City to demand a delay. To amplify the voices of Old Tent City residents, OTN reached out to several media outlets and provided platforms through which the residents could share their stories, fears, and pleas with the mayor’s office and the greater community regarding the proposed clearing. The organizing culminated in a petition to the mayor, drafted by the residents, requesting a delay in the clearing of the place that the residents had called home for years. The petition can be read in full at the end of this post.  

In response to OTN’s intense organizing efforts, the mayor’s office delayed the clearing by 30 days and provided dumpsters and regular trash pickup. OTN offered direct assistance to residents, including large tents to live in while searching for permanent housing, and met with each individual resident to determine their next steps. In addition, the residents attended the mayor’s new Tent City Working Group to provide their input on the issue of tent cities and encampment clearings. Currently, the group of impacted residents plans to meet with OTN staff and continue to organize for better encampment conditions and housing opportunities for themselves and their neighbors. Join NLIHC in congratulating OTN on a major organizing victory!  

To learn more about OTN and its ongoing efforts to advocate, organize, and educate, please visit: https://www.opentablenashville.org/ 

Old Tent City Petition 

We, the residents of Tent City, are coming together to speak out because many of us are facing displacement and the destruction of our homes. 

Some of us were born and raised in Nashville, others of us came here for a fresh start. Many of us have lived in other camps that were closed down before coming here–Fort Negley, Jefferson St. Bridge, the TA camp, and others. We are taxpayers and we pay for the highways and bridges we live under. We’re no different than anyone else, and everyone is one paycheck or disaster away from homelessness. We’re just asking people to treat us like human beings.   

The structures our government is planning to bulldoze are our homes. We have memories here and have invested countless hours and our own resources in constructing them. We can’t just pick up and move. We need time. We also need somewhere to go and rebuild until we have long term options.  

In Tennessee, it’s a felony to sleep on public property, which is like saying it’s a felony to be homeless. This is an abridgement of our constitutional rights and we, like everyone, deserve to have access to a place to call home.  

We are respectfully asking TDOT, Mayor Freddie O’Connell, and Councilmember Jacob Kupin for these things: 

• A 90-day extension on any demolition process. We need more than two weeks to dismantle the homes we’ve built and relocate our belongings and rebuild. 

• Dumpsters and regular trash pickup. We want to be able to clean up our homes and neighborhood like other Nashville residents. It’s more cost effective for us to be able to clean our area. 

• Permanent housing. Everyone deserves a home.  

• A campground where people can go when Tent City closes. There is always going to be a need for a place people can go until they get housing. A lot of us have pets and there are lots of couples here. Service organizations also need centralized places to meet with people. Tent City has existed since the early 1980s. All the other big camps have been shut down, shelters are full, and it’s nearly impossible to find housing that we can afford, especially housing that will take our pets.  

• If anyone has to be displaced, they need to have access to storage for their belongings, adequate tents and tarps, and relocation support.   

Thank you for your consideration. We don’t plan to leave our homes until we have more time or until these requests are met.  

To members of the Nashville community: We ask that you would support us in our immediate requests and needs, and in pushing for long-term solutions. People here have been through a lot, and we have to stand up together. Please put people over property.  

About the NLIHC Organizing Awards 

NLIHC’s annual Organizing Awards recognize outstanding achievements in statewide, regional, citywide, neighborhood, or resident organizing that further NLIHC’s mission of ensuring that people with the lowest incomes have quality homes that are accessible and affordable in communities of their choice. On the Home Front will highlight the victories of organizing award nominees throughout February and March. The winners will be announced the week prior to NLIHC’s 2025 Housing Policy Forum, where they will participate in a plenary discussion.