Renters, Unhoused Tennesseans Converge for Day on the Hill
Feb 24 2026, 2:42 pm
NASHVILLE - On Tuesday, February 24, Housing for All Tennessee hosted its 4th Annual Day on the Hill. The event brought together renters, neighbors with lived experience of homelessness, community leaders, and advocates from across the state for a day of storytelling and action at the Tennessee State Capitol. From small towns in rural Appalachia to neighborhoods in Memphis and cities in between, Tennesseans will travel to Nashville to share their experiences and call for policies that ensure safe, affordable, and dignified housing for all.
Throughout the day, neighbors will meet with their state lawmakers to talk about how housing instability, rising costs, and limited tenant protections affect their families and communities. People with lived experience will share personal stories of navigating homelessness, overcrowded or unsafe housing, and the constant worry of losing a home, and they will lift up practical, common-sense solutions that lawmakers can support this session.
Renters and neighbors who have experienced homelessness spoke alongside housing advocates about the need to end homelessness, protect tenants’ rights, and invest in long-term, affordable housing options. Their stories highlight how urban and rural communities alike are facing sky-high rents and abusive landlords — and share a common need for stable, dignified homes.
Neighbors and advocates also highlighted two common-sense policy changes they are urging lawmakers to support:
• Making the appeals process fair for renters facing eviction. In recent years, a state law has required tenants to post a full year of rent to appeal an eviction, putting a basic safeguard in the legal process out of reach for nearly all renters. People can face eviction for many reasons, including speaking up about unsafe or unhealthy living conditions like mold, leaks, pests, or broken appliances. By lowering this barrier, lawmakers can help ensure that renters have a real chance to appeal and to seek justice when they are treated unfairly.
• Recognizing air conditioning as a basic habitability standard. Extreme heat has led to thousands of emergency room visits in Tennessee, and many communities across the state are seeing more dangerously hot days each year. Yet air conditioning is still not treated as an “essential service” in the same way as heat, water, and electricity. When AC units break during heat waves or not provided at all by a landlord, seniors, children, pregnant people, and others are put at serious risk. Treating air conditioning as a basic standard would help keep more neighbors safe in their homes.
Housing For All Tennessee is a grassroots, statewide coalition working to build a Tennessee where everyone has access to safe, affordable, and dignified housing. The coalition brings together people with lived experience, on-the-ground service providers, faith communities, legal advocates, and community organizations to advance policies that prevent homelessness, strengthen tenant protections, and expand truly affordable housing in every region of the state.
