OpenTable Nashville presents interim housing strategies; working group recommends low-barrier options and use of faith lands

Ali Wallace, executive director of OpenTable Nashville, presented an interim housing strategy report synthesizing 10 weeks of work by a 16-person working group with HUD technical assistance and participation from OHS, service providers and academic partners.

Wallace said the group inventoried existing interim options (tiny-home communities including the Village at Glencliff and Green Street Church, motel/hotel conversions, navigation centers, medical respite, and low-barrier geographically dispersed shelters) and evaluated strengths and constraints for each. The group also reviewed new options not currently widely used in Nashville, such as safe parking programs and temporarily supported tent communities.

The working group conducted a 2–3 week survey of people with lived experience and collected 248 responses. Wallace said the number-one response for long-term needs was permanent housing, but interim needs emphasized privacy, space and transportation access; respondents valued "the privacy of having a door of your own" and lower crowding.

Key recommendations Wallace emphasized included: (1) advocate for creative use of faith-community land for tiny-home and safe-parking options; (2) ask Metro Council members to champion an interim option in their district; (3) standardize feedback mechanisms across interim providers and have the Standards of Care Committee collect client feedback; (4) task the Housing Opportunities Committee to inventory real-estate and conversion opportunities for motel/hotel conversion; and (5) convene philanthropy and stakeholders to mobilize resources.

Wallace framed the work as interim measures while continuing to press for permanent supportive housing as the long-term solution and asked the council to incorporate the packet into committee work and advocacy.

Next steps: the packet will be redistributed to council members and committees to pursue specific recommendations and coordinate advocacy and inventory work.