Emergency Rent Help in Nashville: Who Actually Pays, and Eviction Right to Counsel

If you rent in Nashville or anywhere else in Davidson County and you have fallen behind, there is no single program to apply to. The one name many people remember, Metro Action's HOPE rental assistance, stopped taking new applications on June 30, 2022, and the state's Emergency Rental Assistance program closed for good on July 31, 2025. What is left is a handful of separate doors, each with its own rules, and every one of them runs on money that can run out.

Here's the short version: If you lost income in the last 60 days, call Metro Action Commission at 615-862-8860 first. Apply to Rooftop Nashville online between Monday at 8 a.m. and Wednesday at 5 p.m. Ask The Salvation Army for help through SAHelp, the only way it takes requests now. If you pay MDHA or Section 8 rent, NeedLink Nashville is the door built for you. And if you already have court papers, call Eviction Right to Counsel at (833) 837-HOME the same day. It gets you a free lawyer, not rent money.

The other thing to know: every door that pays has a clock. Metro Action wants a loss of income "within the last 60 days." Rooftop wants a one-time hardship that happened "within the last 90 days," and it only takes balances under $2,500, adding the next month's rent on the 25th. The longer you wait, the fewer of these doors are still open to you, so apply in the first weeks after the trouble starts, not the week of a court date.

The doors that pay rent

Start with Metro Action, then work down the list. Apply to more than one: each runs on its own money, and none of them guarantees help.

Metro Action Commission

Metro Action is Nashville's community action agency and the main public door. Its Household Assistance page says help "for housing and other emergencies" is paid for with federal, state, and local funds, and that "Applicants must live in Davidson County and meet income eligibility as determined by the Federal Income Guidelines."

• Who it is for: the Emergency Assistance Program serves "customers that have had a loss of income within the last 60 days from the time you seek our service," and covers rent, mortgage, water, prescriptions, and past-due property taxes. Residents 60 and older have a separate Senior Services track for rent, mortgage, water, and property taxes.
• Who it is not for: the application checklist says "Zero income prior to hardship, Seasonal employees, part-time employment, temporary, commission paid employees, or on-call, or as needed positions are not eligible." It also says the hardship "must have occurred within 60–90 days of your application date."
• How often: once per application period, October 1 through September 30.
• Income limits: posted on Metro Action's Income Guidelines page. The table there is labeled Fiscal Year 2025-2026, so look again after October 1.
• What to have ready for rent help: a late notice or letter from your landlord, your lease and a rent ledger, 30 days of proof of income for every adult in the household, proof of the income loss (a separation letter or a doctor's note, for example), and a government-issued ID. The checklist also asks for "Social security cards for ALL household members" and notes that "Not all programs and services provided by MAC require household members to be citizens or qualified aliens."
• How to apply: through Metro Action's Online Application page, which links the application for rent, mortgage, property tax, deposit, prescription, and water help. If you need a computer, Metro Action's Customer Care Center has them at 1281 Murfreesboro Pike, open in person 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays; the call center answers until 4:30 p.m.

Call before you count on it: 615-862-8860. This program has run out of money partway through the year before. In January 2023, Metro Action announced it had spent its whole emergency assistance budget "just three months into the new application period."

Rooftop Nashville

Rooftop is a private nonprofit that pays rent, mortgage, and deposit balances straight to the landlord or mortgage company. Its home page says "Applications will be open on Monday mornings at 8:00 am and close on Wednesday at 5:00 pm," and warns that "there may be instances when applications close due to high demand or depleted funding." Rooftop says the apply button on its Get Help page "disappears when applications are closed."

• The rent rules on its Get Help page: you live in Davidson County and the lease is in your name; the total balance is under $2,500, counting fees and attorney fees, and "On the 25th of the month, the next month will be added to the balance"; you can document a one-time hardship from the last 90 days that is over, plus how the rent gets paid afterward; and the take-home income in the home is at least twice the monthly rent. "Ongoing or recurring situations are not covered."
• How often: "Funding is available once every 12 months."
• What it does not pay: utilities, other bills, and stays in hotels, motels, rooming houses, or short-term rentals.
• Documents: ID for every adult on the lease, the current lease, a ledger from your landlord, official proof of the hardship and of how it was resolved, and at least 3 months of pay stubs for the household. A personal written statement does not count as proof.
• One more rule: "Balances are paid in full." If you are paying part of the balance yourself, you have to pay it before Rooftop pays.

Apply on Rooftop's Get Help page during the window. Questions: 615-485-5920.

The Salvation Army (Nashville)

The Salvation Army changed how it takes requests in Nashville, so older advice to call or email is out of date. Its page says: "Starting on October 20, 2025, we will begin using a new process for requesting assistance. All requests must go through our new online system. We will not be able to respond to phone calls or email requests outside this system."

• What it covers: "You may request help with rent, electric, or water bills only."
• A weekly limit: "We can only accept a set number of applications each week. If you receive a message that the limit has been reached, please check back when applications reopen each Monday."
• Updates come through the SAHelp system, not by phone or email.

Start your request at sahelp.org. The Salvation Army's Nashville assistance page does not publish income limits or dollar amounts.

Catholic Charities of Tennessee

Catholic Charities (Diocese of Nashville) says "Short-term assistance is available for those who are experiencing a personal crisis or are a survivor of a disaster," and that typical help can include overdue rent and overdue utility payments. It is "Based on available funding." Its emergency assistance page does not publish eligibility rules or a way to apply, so call: (615) 352-3087, 2806 McGavock Pike.

NeedLink Nashville (only if your rent is income-based)

NeedLink helps with a narrower slice. In its own words, "Income-based rent is the only form of rent that we may be able to consider for assistance." That means rent set at 30% of your household income, the way MDHA and Section 8 rent works. NeedLink says it cannot help with income-restricted rent or market-rate rent.

• The limit: "Past due balances need to be paid down to $300 or less for consideration." NeedLink also takes applications for Metro Water Service, Madison Suburban Utility District, and Piedmont Natural Gas bills, and says its Nashville Electric Service funding "is very limited at this time." One form of regular assistance every twelve months.
• How to apply: in person on Monday or Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at its office inside Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3900 West End Avenue (use the Wilson Entrance), with photo ID, proof of income, and the past-due bill. Or take a paper application from the box outside that entrance and mail it to P.O. Box 91107, Nashville, TN 37209. "Due to a high volume of in-person applications, we are unable to accept applications online at this time."
• Phone: (615) 269-6835. If you are 75 or older or medically homebound, call to make arrangements.

An older NeedLink web address still circulates online and no longer works. Its site is needlink.org.

211 and United Way: a switchboard, not a fund

United Way of Greater Nashville's rent and mortgage assistance page is a list of partner organizations that give rental or mortgage help in its nine-county area, and it says "Each organization has its own guidelines and qualifications, so it's important to check the specifics with them directly." You apply to those organizations, not to United Way. To talk it through with a person, "Dial 211 or text your zip code to 898-211." United Way's 211 page says its navigators work Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central, and that the 211 website can be searched any time.

You may also see EWHAP, the Emergency Winter Housing Assistance Program. It is Metro Action's program for Davidson County households hurt by Winter Storm Fern in January 2026, and it reopened on April 27, 2026. It is not general rent help, and its program page returned an error when we checked on September 11, 2026. If the storm is what put you behind, ask Metro Action whether it is still open.

If you're facing eviction: Eviction Right to Counsel

If you searched for eviction help in Nashville, this is the answer with a name. Eviction Right to Counsel (ERTC) gives free legal help to Davidson County tenants facing eviction. In the Legal Aid Society's words, it "provides free legal help and education to low-income households facing eviction in Nashville. Services may include legal advice or full representation in court." The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands runs it with the Nashville Hispanic Bar Association.

It does not pay your rent. A lawyer can still change what happens next. The Legal Aid Society reports that in 2025, for clients who got extended help, its lawyers prevented an eviction judgment or a forced move in 92% of the cases where that was the goal, and secured rent assistance more than 90% of the time when that was the goal.

• Who qualifies: the Legal Aid Society says "Eligibility depends on income, legal issue, location, and current capacity." It does not publish an income cutoff, so call and ask. The Hispanic Bar Association describes the program as help for "low- and moderate-income residents of Davidson County."
• Who goes first: according to the Legal Aid Society's April 13, 2026 article on the program, ERTC "prioritizes tenants facing eviction from public or subsidized housing, illegal lockouts and utility shutoffs, voucher terminations, discrimination cases, and tenants experiencing domestic violence. Second priority goes to private market tenants with repair issues or non-payment cases." A private-market renter who is behind is in the second group, which is one more reason to call early.
• Is it still funded? Metro's current budget pays for it. ERTC started in July 2022 on federal American Rescue Plan money. The mayor's proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 moved it onto local general-fund money, with "$2.4 million for eviction right-to-counsel," and the budget the Metro Council passed on June 17, 2026 funds Eviction Right to Counsel. That fiscal year runs from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.

What is not a door for rent money

These come up in every search. None of them pays a housed tenant's back rent, so don't lose a day on them:

• MDHA runs Nashville's Section 8 voucher program and other rent supplement programs, which work from a waiting list. It is not an emergency fund. Our MDHA page has the waitlist details. (If you already pay MDHA or Section 8 rent and owe a small balance, NeedLink, above, is the door.)
• The Barnes Housing Trust Fund "makes competitive grants to nonprofit housing developers." Its grants go to developers, not to tenants.
• Room In The Inn, Community Care Fellowship, and the Office of Homeless Services' Low Barrier Housing Collective serve people who are already homeless: shelter, navigation centers reached through Coordinated Entry, and rapid rehousing. They are not a fund for a tenant who is still housed. If you are about to lose your home tonight, see I need housing tonight.
• The L.E.G.A.C.Y. Housing Resource Diversionary Court in General Sessions Division VIII is real, but its page still sets eligibility in pandemic terms, asking tenants to show "that their income has been affected by COVID-19," and its February 2026 update ties it to the EWHAP storm program. A judge can move your eviction case to its docket only if your landlord agrees. It is something to ask about at your hearing, not a fund to apply to.
• HOPE and the state's Emergency Rental Assistance are closed: HOPE stopped taking new applications on June 30, 2022, and the Tennessee Housing Development Agency's program closed permanently on July 31, 2025. Old resource lists still point to both.

If you already have a detainer warrant

In Tennessee a landlord has to go through court to evict you. In Davidson County the case is a detainer warrant in General Sessions Court, which the Circuit Court Clerk's civil office describes as "Possession and rent disputes between landlords and tenants." A notice from your landlord is not a court order. Do these the same day:

• Confirm the case and the court date. General Sessions Civil, (615) 862-5195, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, 408 Second Avenue North, Suite 2110. The court's L.E.G.A.C.Y. page gives the same number for checking whether you have a pending eviction.
• Call ERTC at (833) 837-HOME and include your court date in the message.
• Keep applying for rent money at the doors above, and tell your landlord in writing each time you apply.
• Go to court. Judge Rachel L. Bell's L.E.G.A.C.Y. page puts it plainly: "It is imperative that tenants show up for their court dates to avoid a default judgement for eviction."

Our step-by-step guide to avoiding eviction covers the whole process, and understanding landlord notices explains the paper you received.

Frequently asked questions

Is there emergency rent assistance in Nashville?

Yes, but not as one program. Metro Action Commission (615-862-8860) is the main public door for Davidson County renters who lost income in the last 60 days. Rooftop Nashville takes online applications from Monday at 8 a.m. to Wednesday at 5 p.m. when it has funding. The Salvation Army takes requests only through sahelp.org. Catholic Charities helps based on available funding; call (615) 352-3087. NeedLink helps only with income-based rent. All of them depend on limited funding, so apply to more than one.

When does Metro Action's assistance year reset?

On October 1. Metro Action says all assistance is one-time only per application period, which runs from October 1 through September 30 of the following year. If it already helped you after October 1, 2025, you can ask again starting October 1, 2026, as long as you still meet its other rules.

What is Eviction Right to Counsel in Nashville?

Free legal help for low-income Davidson County tenants facing eviction, run by the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands with the Nashville Hispanic Bar Association. Call (833) 837-HOME and leave your name, date of birth, phone number, and any court date, or call the Hispanic Bar Association at 615-701-7957. It does not pay rent.

How do I apply to Rooftop Nashville?

Online, through Rooftop's Get Help page, between Monday at 8 a.m. and Wednesday at 5 p.m., and only while it has funding; Rooftop says the apply button disappears when applications are closed. The balance must be under $2,500, take-home income must be at least twice the rent, the hardship must be a one-time event from the last 90 days, and help is available once every 12 months.

Can The Salvation Army help with rent in Nashville?

Only through its online system at sahelp.org. Since October 20, 2025 it does not answer phone or email requests made outside that system, it accepts a set number of applications each week (reopening each Monday), and it helps only with rent, electric, or water bills.

Does MDHA give emergency rent help?

No. MDHA runs the Section 8 voucher program and other rent supplement programs, which work from a waiting list. If you already pay MDHA or Section 8 rent and owe a small balance, NeedLink Nashville may help: the past-due balance has to be $300 or less, and you apply in person on Monday or Tuesday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at 3900 West End Avenue.