Promoting Affordable Housing Partnerships

Nashville and Davidson County’s consolidated government (known as Metro), housing developers, and investors are responding to this challenge by exploring new approaches—such as revised voluntary bonus height incentives and increased funding for the city’s housing trust fund—and investing in new affordable housing developments. This report considers another option that Nashville can pursue to make more land available for affordable housing: promoting and facilitating housing development on land belonging to institutional landowners.

To better understand this option, we examined data on developable land owned by Nashville’s academic, faith-based, and healthcare anchor institutions, and researched models of institutional affordable housing partnerships that could be replicated in Nashville. We also analyzed housing development opportunities under both current and alternate zoning, as well as the transit-adjacency of developable parcels (legally distinct pieces of land). This analysis is intended to complement forthcoming Metro-led efforts to assess the development potential of vacant or underutilized Metro property for housing and other community assets.

Also Read: Affordable Housing Partnership Program Guidelines