Tennessee housing advocates say healthy food access should be a part of affordable housing developments

Last year, a Tennessee nonprofit opened a redeveloped, nearly 150-unit apartment complex in the Frayser neighborhood of Memphis.

But this housing remediation project went beyond the physical structures. It also prioritized healthy food — both access to and education about.

Roshun Austin, president of The Works, Inc., spoke about the project Tuesday, during a panel at the Tennessee Housing Conference in Nashville. The nonprofit retrofitted the homes with energy efficiency standards and removed the unwanted features of mold, lead and asbestos.

“Environmental hazards are very pervasive issues in very disinvested and distressed neighborhoods,” she said.

Austin said the Frayser population has a high incidence of diet-related illnesses and a shorter life expectancy — up to 14 years shorter — than other communities in Shelby County.

“They’re filling up their emergency rooms. They’re living shorter lives, with a worse quality of life, because of obesity, high blood pressure [and] diabetes,” Austin said.

To change this statistic, the redeveloped community now has a routine mobile grocery and financial incentives for residents to buy produce.