Mayoral Candidates' Platform:
MEGAN BARRY: “In order to keep Nashville moving forward, we have to keep our vibrant neighborhoods affordable for all – especially our teachers, nurses, police officers, and young professionals. Addressing our affordable housing crisis will require the next mayor to lead with a bold and multi-faceted strategy. We know that we have to fund, build, preserve, and retain our affordable housing stock. As mayor, I will prioritize securing additional sustainable funding mechanisms for the Barnes Housing Trust Fund; incentivize developers with zoning policies to include a percentage of affordable units in new residential development; work to prevent the displacement of renters and homeowners; and engage nonprofits like Rebuilding Together Nashville to provide neighbors with renovations and repairs for older homes. Ultimately, we must maintain Nashville’s identity as a warm and welcoming place – and that means affordable housing.” |
CHARLES ROBERT BONE:
"As mayor, I will commit to making affordable housing a priority for Nashville and its neighborhoods and communities going forward. This will require new solutions including a variety of programs and incentives from increasing our financial commitment to the Barnes Housing Fund to leveraging federal and community funds through MDHA to working with both our for-profit and non-profit developers to increase the amount of available housing. I'm committed to ensuring that we're building the right kind of units, that they remain affordable and that they're being built, developed, and contracted, in large part, by locally-owned businesses right here in Nashville. With respect to gentrification, growth and new development should be for the purpose of stabilizing neighborhoods. As we make public investments and encourage private investments in our neighborhoods and communities, this needs to be for the benefit of those that are there first and foremost." Click on Charles Robert's website to watch videos of Charles Robert Bone address affordability. |
DAVID FOX:
"The velocity at which some of our neighborhoods are gentrifying is astounding, as we risk becoming victims of our own success. My focus on affordable housing pertains mostly to Nashville-area workers earning $15,000-$45,000 a year -- policemen, teachers, firefighters, health technicians, etc. We all want to be sure Nashville does not evolve into a socio-economically homogenous community. Davidson County will be at its best when there are housing opportunities for all income brackets. My administration will work with nonprofit organizations to ensure residents in aging homes get assistance to maintain their residences. Also, we should consider a more enhanced version of property tax freezes for residents in rapidly changing neighborhoods since no one wants fellow residents to be forced from their homes due to home price inflation. Finally, I am optimistic about the rental assistance demonstration (RAD) program, a federal program that seeks to preserve and improve public housing in mix." |
BILL FREEMAN:
"First, 'What affordable housing?' The "It City" boom, despite all its benefits, has not done much for citizens with less than upper-middle-class incomes. We have 40% of Nashvillians living below the poverty line; that is unacceptable. And increasingly, they can't find a place they can afford, without moving to another county and taking their tax dollars with them. We need an infusion of affordable and workforce-level housing ($700-$800 month rent, $120,000 homes) to keep Nashvillians in Nashville. I will start on my first day on a program to build 10,000 such homes within four years, and another 20,000 homes within 10 years. The program will be driven by the private sector, developers who will accept incentives such as tax increment financing. The homes will be located throughout the county, not concentrated in blighted areas. Nashvillians will accept this housing, because it will be attractive, well-planned and enhance Nashville as a welcoming, diverse, progressive city." |
HOWARD GENTRY:
"We do still have areas in the city that are affordable, have a lot to offer and are welcoming, though those neighborhoods get a bad rap. I'll work to change those perceptions and help those neighborhoods, like my own of Bordeaux, turn around so that more people will want to live there. I do understand gentrification and the problems associated with it. I believe everyone should be able to afford a decent home in a safe neighborhood with access to nutritious food, good schools and transportation. Inclusionary zoning is one part of the puzzle while working with MDHA, fully funding the Barnes Trust, and incentivizing developers to set aside a percentage of housing developments is another. We need a better city, not just a bigger city, and ensuring sustainable, affordable growth is part of that." |
JEREMY KANE:
“We must ensure Nashville remains an affordable and obtainable place for all. Our teachers, police officers, and firefighters should be able to live near the communities they serve— not forced to move outside of the county because housing has become too expensive. As mayor, I will ensure that a variety of affordable housing is available and obtainable for everyone from young professionals, working families and veterans to our disabled residents and aging population. The key to any discussion of affordable housing is addressing the transportation cost burden on individuals and families as well as limited transit options available to our city's residents. In Nashville, where affordable housing currently exists, public transportation is often difficult to access. We must think differently about transit and development so that it connects affordable housing with jobs, schools and services that individuals and families need. I understand that secure, affordable housing is the first building block to expanding opportunity for Nashvillians in every neighborhood.” |
LINDA ESKIND REBROVICK:
"MDHA’s acceptance into the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration program will allow for the transition of affordable housing to Section 8 contracts. This means MDHA will be able to use private capital to rebuild and expand the amount of affordable and mixed-use housing developments throughout Nashville – both improving the quality and producing scale for affordable housing. It also means that as communities are developed, the original residences have a home and aren’t displaced. Furthering this program will help provide better homes and expanded economic opportunities for Nashville’s working families. We must also look for ways to create more density where it’s appropriate, and we can do that with innovative approaches such as co-housing and micro-unit developments. These developments have debuted with promising results in other cities where developers have offered smaller units at affordable prices to residents who don’t want to maintain a large residence. This most frequently applies to younger single people. Recently, in Nashville, there has been an effort among the faith community to provide micro-houses to the homeless to help get them back on their feet. This is the kind of innovation I’ll explore. I’ll also take an inventory of unused and underused Metro-owned property that could be used for affordable housing developments." |
ARTICLES & OTHER RESOURCES: