NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Metro Council is looking at a new proposal that would create an incentive program to encourage developers to include affordable housing in their projects.
The Voluntary Attainable Housing Incentive program would waive certain building restrictions for developers who agree to make at least ten percent of the units in their building affordable.
Developers could add an additional two stories to the current height limit, build as many units as they’d like with no maximum unit count, and there would be no parking requirement for the income-qualified units.
Ten percent of the units in the building would have to be priced affordably for households that make no more than 80 percent of the area median income, which comes out to about $85,000 a year for a family of four. Units would be considered affordable if renters spend 30 percent or less of their income on housing costs.
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“Nashville really needs about 90 to 100 thousand new homes within the next 10 years,” said Metro Council Member Jordan Huffman. “We’re in a housing crisis in Nashville, and more importantly, we’re in an affordability crisis. This gives us another tool in the toolbox to keep Nashville a place where working families can live, grow, and thrive.”
The program would also require that the units designated as affordable stay that way for at least 30 years.
“Right now, what we’ve seen a lot of in Nashville is developers that sometimes do commit to affordability, they commit to it for a very short period of time,” Huffman said. “This ensures that we can build an affordable Nashville for many, many years moving forward.”
Huffman says while it’s not a mandate, he hopes the program will make affordable housing more attractive to builders.
“You’ve got a lot of developers in Nashville that are interested, but they may, for financial reasons, not have been able to really make that final step,” Huffman said.
The program is still working its way through the Metro Council for approval.
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