Nashville Hits All-Time High For Homeless Deaths In 2017

NASHVILLE, TN -- For a decade, non-profit Open Table Nashville has tracked the number of deaths among people who are homeless in Nashville and 2017 set an ignominious record.

Open Table said 118 people who were homeless have died in the city so far this year, the most on record.

The interfaith non-profit held its annual memorial service Saturday.

"I knew several of my friends that were beaten or stabbed from violent incidences," Open Table founder Lindsey Krinks told News Channel 5. "Some people were hit by cars. The housing crisis is pushing people from safer places to the streets, and the streets are a living hell. The streets are death."

Krinks said a significant number of the 118 died because of exposure-related ailments such as heat stroke hypothermia and that those deaths, in particular, are preventable with access to shelter.

"We need more affordable housing," Krinks told the station. "We know that housing saves lives in Nashville. We know that healthcare, affordable healthcare, improves access so people don't die well before their time."

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