Nashville’s new housing director wants more staff to address growing housing demand

Nashville needs to create 5,250 affordable housing units a year to keep up with the demand.

The planning department says that’s the updated figure since a report from the mayor’s affordable housing task force published last year.

That’s why the city’s new housing director Angela Hubbard says she wants more data so the city can drill down and understand the problem better. To get going on that, she has the planning staff preparing a dashboard so that everyone is on the same page.

“Residents, to see what’s happening in their neighborhoods. Policy makers, to make data-driven decisions. Nonprofit or for-profit developers, to show the need of where we need to have funding for housing,” she explains.

Hubbard wants the council and mayor to spend more on creating more staff capacity to address urgent housing needs. That ask comes as the mayor prepares to announce his budget and the council starts hearing from residents. 

On Tuesday night, the Metro Council will listen to residents’ feedback on what the city should prioritize in the upcoming budget. In previous years, many residents have called for more spending on affordable housing. The federal government defines affordable as a resident spending 30% of their income on housing costs.

The city already has data showing supply is tight for people making less than $60,000 a year.

Hubbard works in the planning department which gives her position more consistency than being connected to the mayor’s office. That’s a step short of some councilmembers and advocates who wanted a permanent housing department. It also comes as councilmembers and advocates question the city’s approach to addressing the needs of unhoused residents.

In her first year, she’s brainstorming a system to deal with housing displacement, assessing how Metro property can address the crisis and working with developers to include affordable units.