NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) —There are only 5 single family homes priced under $100,000 in Davidson County, according to a former president of the Greater Nashville Realtors.
And there’s only 5 single family homes between $100,000 and $200,000 the group’s former president Sher Powers said.
Mayor John Cooper announced $10 million for 335 new affordable housing units Wednesday.
Cooper and nonprofits alike say more needs to be done. He said last week that he hopes that by building more homes, it’ll drive the cost of the homes down.
He said there were 12,000 new units built in Nashville last year.
Beth Shinn, a professor at Vanderbilt University and a member of the Affordable Housing Task Force, says she’d like to see 20,000 new units over the next five to ten years.
Powers said she’d like to see 36,000.
“I’d like to see that number tripled for the next few years, and I think that’s realistic based on the volume of people that we have coming,” Powers said.
Having limited affordable housing is a negative of being such a fast-growing city, Cooper said. His office plans to tackle the issue through different funds, grants, and tax incentives to partner with the private sector.
The mayor included in his budget more than $30 million for the Barnes Fund for Affordable Housing, a new catalyst Housing fund, which the mayor’s office said will help preserve affordable housing units, a PILOT to boost private sector participation in affordable housing developments, and a plan to develop Metro-owned land on 24th Ave. N.
Shinn said this is a good start. She said some of these are suggestions the Affordable Housing Task Force gave to Cooper. Their full report hasn’t been released yet.
“Mayor Cooper’s recent announcements are a good down payment, but again don’t get us where in Nashville ultimately needs to be,” Shinn said.
Cooper told our team that rent control is illegal in Tennessee, and not an option to fight rising prices.