Writer: Andrea Teran
3 min read November 2023 — Music City is facing a lot of noise when it comes to housing affordability, but local leaders are chipping away at the housing crisis through consensus and collaboration.
The Urban Institute’s November 2023 “Promoting Affordable Housing Partnerships in Nashville” research report outlined a potential solution to Nashville’s housing challenge by incentivizing development on institutionally owned land. By promoting housing development on land owned by institutions like schools and healthcare facilities, the city could unlock opportunities for affordable housing. The report suggests that partnering with local affordable housing developers can help institutions maximize underutilized land without shouldering the entire responsibility for financing and construction.
“I believe our collaboration with other nonprofits is vital to ensuring more affordable housing units are created and preserved in Nashville. Earlier this year, we partnered with two other nonprofits to acquire 54 acres of land where we plan to build 150 units of housing in the next year and a half. Our partnership is significant because we are setting an example for how collaborations among nonprofits can co-exist to create and preserve affordable housing in Nashville,” Marshall Crawford, President & CEO of The Housing Fund told Invest:.
In another positive move towards tackling the affordable housing issue, Regions Bank recently announced a $20 million investment over 10 years to support the development of more affordable housing in Tennessee. Middle Tennessee Market Executive Lee Blank emphasized, “This is about making sure modern, affordable housing is accessible to more people and more families as Nashville continues to grow.”
Pathway Lending, the recipient of the investment, collaborates with developers in communities like North Nashville to enhance housing quality. Pathway Lending’s CEO Clint Gwin said they are “expanding the supply of affordable rentals and preventing the displacement of longtime residents.”
The RE/MAX National Housing Report for October 2023 revealed a 4.6% decrease in home sales from the previous month and is down 8.7% year over year across 53 U.S. metro areas. Despite a 6.9% year-over-year decrease in the number of homes on the market, October’s inventory grew by 4.6% month over month, continuing a streak of monthly increases that began in April. In the report, Nick Bailey, president and CEO of RE/MAX, LLC, noted, “It remains a challenging market, but demand for homes is still high — and buyers are gaining a little more leverage as time goes on.”
On the legislative front, U.S. Congress has an opportunity to address the nationwide affordable housing issue through the bipartisan-backed Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA). As of November 9, 180 House representatives have cosponsored AHCIA and a Senate companion legislation has reached 30 cosponsors. Among the sponsors, there is a 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans, according to the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers. With nearly 2 million more affordable homes potentially created by lowering bureaucratic barriers and strengthening the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, this legislation has garnered support from Tennessee members of Congress.
In Nashville, coming together as a community will form the best approach to achieving affordable housing objectives. “The recent creation of the Alliance for Affordable Nashville came to be established as an alliance of nonprofits with a common focus on housing objectives and activities. Our aim is to have one collective voice… We have a strong coalition of groups that can serve the community effectively,” said Crawford.
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