Welcome to part two of The Axle: Propelling Nashville Forward! It is our limited series exploring the Nashville transit plan and how it can serve as an expressway to cultivate and attain affordable housing, good jobs, and community spaces. This time we’re exploring the second element of the SHIFT Nashville platform: Joyful Abodes.

Reverse

Having a home can mean different things depending on who you ask. Some people beam at the thought of their newly constructed quaint ranch-style home and others consider their sprawling estate in suburban areas. For others, home is making the best of a two-bedroom apartment or downtown loft with floor to ceiling windows. There are also people who feel alive by embracing transient living such as the van life. Still, others have to live without housing altogether because they can’t afford it.  

No matter what or where you call home, it should still align with the saying, “Home is where the heart is.” And it should be safe.

Based on our research and community engagement, many Nashvillians maintain a heart’s desire for homeownership – and are priced out. Our 2024 housing series, Home Is Where You Can Afford It, delved into the history of housing inequities and racism, the responsibility of elected and appointed officials, corporate greed, and real life stories of housing insecurity. We didn’t shy away from the corporate landlords and developers who are busy building, gentrifying, and pushing out generations of families from the only neighborhoods and communities they’ve known. 

This isn’t okay. Nashville residents deserve better. How can transit drive us to affordable housing across income and economic levels? 

Park

The Choose How You Move transit plan will build 12 transit centers throughout Davidson County over 15 years. It also intends to earmark $33.6 million to purchase 26 acres of land around transit centers over the next two years. However, those funds can only be used to purchase the land – not develop the land. 

This arrangement means Metro must set aside additional investments in the budget or it must partner with developers in the private and nonprofit sectors to build housing and other amenities. 

• If done right, our city’s leaders and the designated developers can address crucial housing issues in a major way. 
• If done wrong, it could be business as usual in the city. And that’s bad business for everyday people.

The reality is that Metro has a history of doing it wrong.

We can’t ignore that we’re in more challenging times that will impact the budget. Nashville continues to be a political target for legislators who love the city’s economic perks, but reject its attempts to implement and sustain the people’s hard-fought wins. On top of that, we’re watching  the unbridled dismantling of federal departments and funding which puts future funding at risk. 

It’s tough, heavy, and frustrating. But we won’t give up. It’s our job to set the vision and hold Metro leaders and business partners accountable. 

Drive

Let’s talk about funding, protection, and follow through. Not just any funding, more funding – beyond the tax referendum sales tax. Stand Up Nashville is calling for more investments this year and in future budget years to come to support long-term, permanently affordable solutions. 

With more funding we can:

• Dedicate affordable housing funding to produce 52,000 units by 2030
• Invest in community-controlled housing on Metro-owned land
• Establish an Anti-Displacement Fund to prevent displacement of vulnerable renters and homeowners near transit lines by:
  • Providing assistance for right to counsel, rental, and foreclosure prevention
  • Implementing land banks (the practice of acquiring and holding strategically valuable properties until the community can develop them as affordable housing) 

The people need better protection by way of sensible policies and laws that prioritize people over profit to: 

• Ensure strong tenant protections on Metro-owned land
• Create land trusts with co-op and limited-equity home ownership opportunities on Metro-owned land

A lot can be said and has been said when it comes to housing in Nashville. We understand there isn’t an overnight solution. However, we know that more energy has been put into green lighting things community members didn’t ask for as opposed to what we have asked, pleaded, and demanded. The time is now to see the lights change and give the right-of-way to the housing solutions we’ve advocated for. 

We want tangible follow through for housing that meets our individual, family, and community needs. Here are a few ways that can lead us there:

• Allow community needs assessments to guide contracts for development on Metro-owned land
• Co-locate housing with childcare, grocery stores, cultural spaces, parks, health and wellness kiosks, and transit connections
• Build 10,000 high-quality rental units for families making $50,000 or less

All of these things are possible through community education, strong advocacy, and government accountability.