Now Nashville Plans to Tackle its Housing Affordability Challenges

A new report by the Metro Nashville Affordable Housing Task Force marshals local resources and advocates for coordination with the state and federal government to address the loss of affordable housing in Nashville.

1 minute read

June 17, 2021, 9:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell

The Gulch has been transformed in Nashville since the creation of the formation of The Gulch Business Improvement District in 2006. | James R. Martin / Shutterstock

The Metro Nashville Affordable Housing Task Force, formed by Mayor John Cooper in January of 2021, has published a report detailing nine priority actions for addressing the rising cost of housing and shrinking supply of affordable housing in the city. The report aims to achieve significant progress on the city's housing affordability challenges by 2024.

"Nashville must quadruple its current annual affordable housing production by 2030 to meet projected needs and address the city's existing affordable housing deficit, the task force estimates," according to an article by Cassandra Stephenson that shares the news of the new report's findings.

The report suggests that local, state, and federal resources will be required to fix the shortage of affordable housing in the city, but there's plenty the city can do, like "creating a dedicated affordable housing department to track affordable units in the city; better using publicly-owned land and pursuing new revenue sources like increased sales tax in the tourism zone, increased hotel tax and higher short term rental fees."

According to a press release from the Mayor Cooper's office, the city has already acted on five of the report's nine recommendations, "including a plan to triple the number of dollars allocated to affordable housing in Nashville for the coming year."

The "Affordable Housing Task Force Report" [pdf] is available to read online.

FULL STORY: How a Nashville task force wants to fix the affordable housing crisis, and what it will cost

Monday, June 7, 2021 in Tennessean

Housing Urban Development Tennessee Nashville Affordable Housing Housing Crisis Housing Affordability Crisis Affordable Housing Taskforce Mayor John Cooper Housing Supply View More

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