Jim Harbison is stepping down as executive director of the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency. His resignation was announced Friday, noting that he will stay on through December to assist the transition to a new leader.
“I have chosen to pursue opportunities that more directly align with where I am in my personal and professional life,” the former Marine colonel said in a written statement.
Harbison took over at MDHA in 2013. He had a 31-year military career and came to th agncy from a local office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
During his tenure, the agency essentially mortgaged the city’s public housing to raise money used to rebuild the aging complexes. And Harbison focused on transitioning public housing to mixed-income developments, starting with the James Cayce homes in East Nashville.
The multi-year project to “deconcentrate poverty” became the subject for season 1 of The Promise podcast from WPLN News.
“When you have differing incomes together, the people with resources get to know the people that lack resources and provide either examples, or actual support to the safety, education and opportunity of lower income,” Harbison said in episode 6. “Am I certain of this? No, it worries me. But I know that leaving it like it is is not the right thing to do.”
The mixed-income transition has taken longer than expected to implement. And Mayor John Cooper has questioned the central role MDHA is playing in the redevelopment of the city’s public housing.
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