On February 27 at the invitation of Vice Mayor Angie Henderson and Planning and Zoning Chair Jennifer Gamble, Metro Planning’s Housing Division conducted an Affordable Housing “201” Educational Session for Council Members in the David Scobey Council Chamber at the Historic Courthouse and City Hall. Metro’s Housing Division Director Angela Hubbard and her team provided Council with an update on housing affordability in Nashville, various projects, programs, and initiatives underway and planned, and an update on efforts to continue progress in meeting the goals laid out in the 2021 Affordable Housing Task Force.
Both initial orientation and continuing education are especially important since the Council is comprised of at least 50% new members every four years, explains Vice Mayor Henderson. “For complex policy fields of heightened community concern like affordable housing, I am grateful that the Council and Nashville now have the expertise of a Housing Division within the Planning Department. I appreciate that Director Kempf has been responsive to the Council’s requests in recent years for sufficient staffing in the Planning Department to support the refinement, advancement, and implementation of our city’s many policy goals, including increasing affordable housing supply.”
Metro’s first Housing Division was established as part of the Nashville Planning Department in January 2022. Since then, the staff has tripled and established additional tools and policies such as the Mixed Income PILOT, Catalyst Fund, and Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP) to help address the need for affordable housing in Nashville.
“My team is always happy to share the great work being done to ensure every Nashvillian has housing security,” said Housing Division Director Angie Hubbard. “I am grateful to the Vice Mayor and Chair Gamble for the opportunity and look forward to working with this Council as we tackle the vital issues surrounding affordable housing in our community.”
Chair Gamble expressed her appreciation for the Housing Division's work, commenting after the session, "I'm glad we had the opportunity to highlight the important work of our Housing Division staff, and I was especially impressed with their new dashboard—that will be a helpful tool for Council and the community."
To learn more visit Metro Nashville Housing Division and the Affordable Housing Dashboard. To view a recording of the Affordable Housing 201 Educational Session and the slide deck from the session visit Metro Council Resources.
About Metropolitan Council
The Metropolitan Council is the legislative authority of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, the nation’s first, fully, city-county consolidated government, established in 1963. The Vice Mayor serves as the president of the Council, which is comprised of 35 district members and five members serving at-large. Metropolitan Council Office | Nashville.gov