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A resolution acknowledging the Metropolitan Planning Department Housing Division’s work to advance affordable housing and requesting continued commitment, in collaboration with other Metro agencies and external partners such as MDHA, to study and implement emerging and innovative public housing solutions to effectuate more permanently attainable and affordable housing options within Nashville and Davidson County.
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WHEREAS, at the pre-budget public comment period on February 3, 2026, many Nashvillians requested that the Metropolitan Government fund housing solutions to create permanently attainable and affordable housing throughout Nashville and Davidson County; and
WHEREAS, as Nashville has grown over the past couple of decades, it has lost a significant portion of its affordable or attainable housing due to rising rents, increasing property values, and extensive redevelopment; and
WHEREAS, this loss of attainable and affordable housing options has pushed many Nashvillians into surrounding counties or out of the region entirely due to not being able to afford housing within Nashville and cost-burdened many more Nashvillians who remain; and
WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Planning Department Housing Division has launched several innovative tools that address financing needs and long-term affordability including the Nashville Catalyst Fund, Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program, the Mixed-Income PILOT, the Voluntary Affordable Housing Incentive program, and Nashville’s first Limited Equity Cooperative; and
WHEREAS, the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 budget included funding to analyze and calibrate current local subsidies and determine opportunities for new tools or programs; and
WHEREAS, the published Unified Housing Strategy has identified the creation of more housing, including the creation of more housing on publicly owned land, as necessary to increase housing access for all and ensure that Nashville’s housing stock is resilient and sustainable; and
WHEREAS, there are surplus and underutilized properties owned by the Metropolitan Government and MDHA that would be appropriate for residential development; and
WHEREAS, the implantation of innovative new public housing solutions on these surplus and underutilized properties would create more permanently attainable and affordable housing options for Nashvillians, creating an opportunity for them to stay in Nashville.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:
Section 1. That the Metropolitan Council hereby requests that the Metropolitan Planning Department Housing Division continue to study and implement emerging and innovative housing solutions including residential development of public land, creative financing tools, and long-term affordability mechanisms. and Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) research emerging and innovative public housing solutions and implement such solutions determined to be locally viable on surplus and underutilized properties owned by the Metropolitan Government or MDHA that are appropriate for residential development.
Section 2. That the Metropolitan Council recognizes the existing work underway has been funded in the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 budget and requests that additional funding be included in the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 to support requests from hereby requests that this initiative be funded in the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 operating budget at an amount recommended by the Director of the Metropolitan Planning Department and the President & CEO of the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency.
Section 3. The Metropolitan Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Resolution to the Director of the Metropolitan Planning Department, the President & CEO of the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, and the Mayor.
Section 4. This Resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.