Nationwide, about half of renters were cost-burdened in 2022, meaning they spent more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities, according to America’s Rental Housing Report of 2024, which was published by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
Tennessee is mentioned three times in that report with regard to increases in outdoor homelessness, which is a consequence of housing affordability and wage increases not keeping up with demand. It is also noted that Tennessee’s response, as a state, was to criminalize homelessness rather than focus on building more affordable housing for cost-burdened, low-income households.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), about 69 percent of Tennesseans whose incomes are at or below 30 percent of the area median income (AMI) are severely cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing. Based on the NLIHC data, Tennessee lacks close to 130,000 housing units for extremely low-income renters.
The NLIHC report describes extremely low-income renters the following way:
- 35 percent of extremely low-income renter households are in the labor force;
- 22 percent are disabled;
- 26 percent are seniors;
- 4 percent are in school;
- 4 percent are single adult caregivers of a child under 7 years of age; and
- The remaining are listed as “other.”
Since there is some overlap among the categories, the report also clarified that they found that 13 percent of extremely low-income renter households include a single adult caregiver, 49 percent of those usually work at least 20 hours per week. Also, 10 percent of extremely low-income renter households are enrolled in school and of those, 47 percent usually work at least 20 hours per week.
It is not just in Nashville that we experience a housing crisis. In addition, study after study shows that the main reasons for increases in homelessness clearly relate back to the lack of obtainable, affordable housing for people with extremely low incomes. In other words, when poor people pay more than 30 percent of their household income on housing costs (rent/mortgage and utilities), they are more likely to scrimp on other necessities like healthy food and/or healthcare. And they experience unstable housing situations including evictions.
Homelessness in the United States is the result of system failures such as the lack of affordable housing, low wages that do not keep up with the cost of living, and individual difficulties play a lesser role. When I talk to people who are living on the streets, I often hear them blame themselves for their situation. They know that individual circumstances can lead to homelessness. But the fact remains, in communities where affordable housing is available for low-income people, a bad personal decision usually does not lead to homelessness quickly.
In northern European countries, where systems and safety nets are in place, homelessness is more rare and reasons are often based on individual circumstances. In Finland, for example, the country decided to invest in affordable housing and support services. As a consequence, the country has nearly eliminated homelessness.
So, what can we do right here in the United States and in cities like Nashville?
For one, we can elect politicians who understand that housing subsidies and eviction prevention measures are ways to prevent homelessness, stabilize families, increase education outcomes (kids need a place to feel safe where they have the ability to learn and grow), and reform the healthcare system.
Locally, we need to focus on creating housing at all income levels but especially for low-income households. Nashville is taking steps and chipping away on building more affordable housing. But we also have to admit that politics keeps getting in the way of bold vision and leadership – at the state and local levels. We can watch this unfold right now with the current effort around discussions to potentially overhaul Metro’s zoning code. Unfortunately, the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) uproar started inside the Metro Council Chambers in February and continues in community meetings. People are shouting at each other rather than listening, and I wonder if that environment lends itself to discuss necessary adjustments to accommodate Nashvillians’ housing needs. And I am talking about all Nashvillians here.
Frankly, I am not even certain where the discussion and urgency of politicians is when it comes to keeping people in their housing. Let’s take a look at eviction filings, as an example. During the height of the COVID pandemic much of the temporary federal funds helped keep people in housing and caused eviction rates to fall. But since then, the money dried up, local politicians have not truly discussed any measures that could help keep eviction rates low, and as a result, Davidson County has seen a 111-percent increase in eviction filings since 2020.
And when we examine who is at the highest risk of eviction in this country, it is our children. According to the National Eviction Lab at Princeton University, children and youth (19 and under) are at the highest risk of eviction in the United States. Having experienced housing instability and homelessness as a child is also one of the risk factors for adult homelessness.
Nashville has been discussing how to counteract the affordable housing crisis for some time. Most recently, a 2021 report from a Mayor’s Taskforce on Affordable Housing lists the following measures: Invest in the Barnes Housing Trust Fund at a rate of $30 million per year; invest in Metro capacity and capability; develop dedicated revenue for affordable housing; create a catalyst fund; leverage underutilized publicly owned lands; build state support for local community solutions; expand and improve PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) programs; address zoning issues to reduce barriers to develop strategic and appropriate density; and invest in MDHA’s Envision and improve the impact of housing vouchers.
Since this report, Metro has created a Housing Division within the Department of Planning and has chipped away at these goals. As part of creating accountability, the Housing Division has published dashboards to keep up with Metro’s housing efforts (see: https://dashboards.nashville.gov/t/Metro/views/AH-Dashboard/FinalDashboard_1?%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y)
According to these dashboards, the 2021 Affordable Housing Taskforce Report estimated the housing need for Davidson County by 2030 as follows:
- 35,715 rental units and 1,799 owner-units for households with incomes between 0-30 percent AMI;
- 5,387 rental units and 3,445 owner-units for households with incomes between 31-60 percent AMI; and
- 3,670 rental units and 2,482 owner-units for households with incomes between 61-80 percent AMI.
Another dashboard shows that 12,070 affordable housing units have been funded for preservation or creation with locally financing tools and COVID recovery dollars since 2016. However, in the following chart, we focused only on data reaching back to 2021 in order to align the comparison with the goals of the Affordable Housing Taskforce Report estimates for Davidson County.
In essence, we have funded 5,887 new housing units since 2021 in Davidson County. I am unclear how many affordable housing units were lost during that time frame. I am also unclear how many of those units are actually in place yet. For example, the dashboard shows that Metro funded 90 Permanent Supportive Housing units in 2017, but those units are not expected to be occupied until this spring — once Metro is able to hire a contractor to manage and provide support services.
So far, Metro’s Housing Division has shown leadership and developers have been encouraged by Metro’s willingness to examine innovative solutions that have worked in peer cities. One such example that I came across in Charlotte, N.C., and that I have since learned our city is looking into, is the Housing Impact Fund. This is an investment fund that is focused on buying and preserving unsubsidized affordable housing and has shown promise. The model focuses on purchasing low-income housing complexes and rather than raising rents, the new owners commit to keeping prices affordable for 20 years. A first round of investments in 2020 raised $58 million of social impact capital and resulted in the preservation of 805 apartment units serving over 2,000 residents. The Housing Impact Fund is committed that a third of its units serve households with incomes at 0-30 percent AMI, half of the units serve households at 31-60 percent AMI, and the rest will serve households between 61-80 percent of AMI. To do this, the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County created a partnership to convert property taxes into rental subsidy payments to serve households below 30 percent AMI.
The Housing Division is also taking a deep dive and is in the process of working on an inventory of Metro buildings and properties that in theory could be used for affordable housing construction. I understand that the report is expected to be published in fall of this year.
In addition, the Urban Institute has created an inventory report of potential affordable housing partnerships in Nashville that could theoretically create up to 5,539 new housing units under current land availability and zoning laws, the majority of which (about 95 percent) would come from land owned by the faith-based institutions. The inventory, which was published in November 2023, examined available land owned by faith-based, academic, and health care institutions. It also calculated that up to 14,151 new housing units could be built if subdivisions were created on available land that is currently zoned for single-family residential uses. In addition, if Metro rezoned parcels that are currently zoned as commercial and retail districts, another 9,750 multi-family units could be created.
Looking at all of the information we have on the lack of affordable housing, especially for low-income households, may be discouraging. But we also know what to do. In my observation, the biggest obstacle is that too many people holding leadership positions in Nashville have been catering to politicians. They hold back information for no apparent reason, use the term “Nashville Nice” as an excuse to drag their feet and protect the status quo, and create distrust because their actions do not align with their words. This is the time to change that culture and figure out how to create cross-sector leadership that knows how to work through conflict, overcome NIMBYism, and focus on solutions — even if we have to compromise. We need people in leadership positions who understand accountability and transparency. That’s how we re-engage with each other and build trust. That’s how we invest in the tools to improve quality of life for all neighbors.
Right now we also have a lot of transparent leaders working on addressing affordability and growth. Just read the last few Q&As in The Contributor with community leaders including the mayor, vice mayor, councilmembers, nonprofit advocates, and most recently a private developer who takes a huge risk to invest in and build permanent supportive housing right here in Nashville. When you read these interviews, you will recognize that they are pulling in one direction, which is to build a Nashville for all of us.