It only takes a few obstacles or a run of bad luck to find yourself without a place to call home. And once that happens, finding a path back to stable housing can be incredibly difficult.  

Nashville, like many growing communities, is grappling with how to meet that need. The city dismantled its largest homeless encampment in 2025, even as the number of people experiencing homelessness continued to rise. At the same time, shelter availability, individual circumstances and rules around public camping can all affect where someone without stable housing is able to go. 

Open Table Nashville (OTN) addresses these issues by helping locals experiencing homelessness find resources and housing. For more than 15 years, the organization has worked to end homelessness through person-centered outreach, housing navigation, community education, and advocacy.  

Rather than relying on traditional institutional frameworks, OTN models radical hospitality and systemic change. They help with resources, but temporary relief isn’t what they’re about. The people of OTN walk alongside their unhoused neighbors on the road toward stable housing. 

Long before Open Table Nashville became the organization it is today, its roots were taking shape in Tent City, along the banks of the Cumberland River. A small group of committed volunteers spent much of their time there, building close relationships with residents, officiating weddings and funerals, and seeing firsthand the challenges that kept people from finding stable housing. 

The country was in the middle of a recession, for one thing. Need was high, and certain factors made it especially challenging for some to find spots at local shelters. Maybe they had pets or worked unusual hours. Some had severe mental health issues. Others were couples who wanted to stay together.  

In 2010, a flood washed out Tent City, where at the time approximately 140 people had set up camp. The frantic effort to find solutions for those who had lived in Tent City resulted in the formation of Open Table Nashville (OTN), which drew its name from the idea that everyone is welcome—that the organization is a place of “fellowship, community, and radical inclusion.”  

With ending homelessness as part of its mission, OTN is thinking big and embracing the wide range of residents who need its help. That means taking a threefold approach: street outreach, advocacy, and education. 

OTN’s outreach workers go directly to where need is greatest to offer not just immediate survival supplies—like water, food, blankets, and hygiene kits—but solidarity, care, and support for reaching long-term stability. 

Through dedicated housing navigation, OTN staff help individuals overcome the massive bureaucratic hurdles required to secure permanent housing. This includes: 

Homelessness is not a problem of individuals but of community—and policy. To truly end homelessness means addressing the structural systems that create it so that everyone can thrive. Advocating to make affordable, accessible housing available also means working within related social justice issues, such as racial justice, workers’ rights, and transportation. 

That massive effort requires a larger team, and OTN is a founding organization of Housing for All Tennessee. This nonpartisan coalition includes nonprofits, tenants’ rights organizations, faith communities, and others working through state and local policy platforms to address issues like criminalization of homelessness.  

Misconceptions about poverty and homelessness enable apathy and perpetuate harmful stereotypes. OTN counters this through education. They host public trainings, workshops, and educational sessions about the root causes of economic inequality to build a more compassionate and informed Nashville. OTN believes an educated public is key to creating long-term political will for affordable housing. 

Open Table Nashville always has room for helpers. Here’s how you can pitch in: 

It takes teamwork to make sure everyone in Nashville has a safe, dignified place to call home.