Legislation addresses affordable housing in TN
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Tennessee legislature passed a measure aimed at addressing affordable housing in Nashville and other communities statewide.
According to the Alliance for an Affordable Nashville, in 2017, 72% of zip codes in the greater Nashville area were deemed affordable. By 2021, that percentage has dropped to just 21%. The National Association of Realtors reported that approximately 56% of all homes listed in Nashville are only affordable to households with an annual income of more than $100,000.
“If we don’t rein in sort of the unmanaged growth, that Nashvillians are feeling, then it will have dire consequences on on the working class of our city,” said Tennessee State Senator Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville).
She and Representative Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville) created legislation modeled after a program in Charlotte, NC. SB1137/HB1229 passed both the house and senate. It allows municipalities in Tennessee to issue bonds that would generate revenue and incentivize private sector groups and nonprofits to build affordable housing.
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“A group called Imagine Nashville, they had a survey that came out of over 10,000 Nashvillians that said, their number one challenge is affordability in Nashville because of our growth and what they would like to see is more incentives for developers to build private and public affordable housing,” said Oliver. “That is what this bill does.”
She said the funding would come through Industrial Development Boards.
“Those industrial development boards will be allowed to borrow money using the city’s line of credit,” she said. “Then the developers can apply for that money to build the affordable housing and then they will have to pay that money back once that development in that project is approved.”
Oliver explained how they included provisions to help protect municipalities.
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“We did put some regulations in the bill. We worked with the comptroller’s office to make sure that especially those smaller cities that may want to engage in building affordable housing, making sure that their municipality and their budget, they’re not taking on too much financial risk by doing this,” Oliver said. “They have to have a certain credit rating to be able to issue the bonds. And they have to be able to put forth a feasibility plan that is approved by the comptroller’s office before they engage in a project.”
She said Tennessee has not had a program like this before and she was glad to see Republicans get on board to approve the legislation.
“Housing is the number one cost for families, for working families. And so if we don’t bring those costs down, we are at risk of losing Nashvillians to other cities, we are at risk of having residents being displaced. And that will have an effect on our school system. that’ll have an effect on our local job economy.”
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