Nashville’s strong employment and population growth had triggered housing affordability, gentrification, and displacement challenges in the city’s neighborhoods. EPS evaluated the feasibility of establishing a mandatory or voluntary form of inclusionary zoning - and due to state legislative restrictions - ultimately enacted two ordinances: 1) voluntary inclusionary zoning; and 2) a housing incentives program, which reimbursed rental developments the difference between the affordable and market rate rents. After the completion of the Mayor’s Housing Plan in 2017, the mayor’s office committed $65 million to affordable housing over the next two years and a further commitment of $750 million to affordable housing beginning in 2019.
