Regions Bank announced a multimillion-dollar investment in Pathway Lending this week for the construction of affordable housing units across Tennessee.
Pathway Lending is a community development financial institution, a type of organization that usually provides lending options for underserved communities or small businesses. The new investment is the largest Pathway has ever received from a bank. The funds will be used to collaborate with developers on affordable housing projects around the state.
On Tuesday, in front of a small, brick duplex near Brick Church Pike, leaders from Regions Bank and Pathway Lending smiled for the camera with a billboard-sized $20-million-dollar check in hand.
Clint Gwin, the CEO and president of Pathway, pointed to the duplex as an example of what the new investment can bring. Pathway says the $20 million, which will be in the form of a 10-year loan, will allow for the immediate financing of 500 affordable housing units. Because they are able to reinvest the capital as it is paid back, Pathway expects that another 300 or more units can be financed over the next 10 years.
In the announcement, Gwin elucidated Pathway’s goal.
“We want to make sure that Nashville is for Nashvillians, as well as for everyone that is joining our city and making it new and vibrant,” Gwin said.
It sounded a lot like Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s campaign slogans — “’Ville not Vegas” and “building a Nashville for Nashvillians” — but this was not a Metro initiative. While the local government was included in the conversation, it is a private partnership.
Angela Hubbard, the housing director at Metro Planning, explained Metro’s role.
“We just get to be back and celebrate and say, ‘How can we support you and everyone else on your next venture, on your next ideas?’” Hubbard said. “That’s what we’re here for.”
Regions Bank is the third-largest bank in the Nashville area and is owned by Regions Financial Corporation, which made $1.6 billion in the first three quarters of 2023 and has $154 billion in assets, according to Regions’ public financial records.
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