Nashville will receive $5 million from the White House and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to eliminate barriers to creating and preserving affordable housing through the creation of a Faith Based Development Institute. Metro Nashville will also use the funds to strengthen its Affordable Housing Finance Program, create and preserve new permanent housing units, and accelerate development capacity with new partners.

Nashville is one of only 21 communities nationwide to receive funding from HUD’s new Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program, which helps lower housing costs, out of more than 175 applicants. On Thursday, Mayor Freddie O’Connell announced that a portion of those funds will go to the new Faith Based Development Institute and enable the construction of affordable housing on land owned by faith-based organizations.

“As land prices rise, affordable housing becomes increasingly difficult to create, and our faith community, which owns nearly 4,000 acres of land throughout the county, presents an excellent opportunity to work together to create affordable housing,” said Mayor O’Connell. “We appreciate the support of our federal partners, whose funding will help us add another tool to our toolbox to support the creation of more affordable housing throughout Nashville and address one of the biggest cost-of-living challenges we face.”

Claudette Fernandez, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, presented Nashville with the award on May 50.^th Anniversary of the Community Development Block Grant Program.

“This funding builds on the impressive work Nashville and Davidson County have already done to increase housing supply, pursue bold policy strategies and strengthen partnerships with citizens, developers and the private sector,” she said.

A report prepared by Think Tennessee and the Urban Institute identified approximately 1,600 parcels (3,491 acres) of land geographically scattered throughout Davidson County that are owned by religious institutions. More than half of the acres (57%) are undeveloped and could be used for housing.

“We are grateful to HUD for selecting Nashville as one of the recipients of the PRO Housing Grant, the first federal grant received by Metro’s housing department,” said Angela Hubbard, director of Metro Housing. “This funding will help our community unlock additional innovative tools to create and preserve much-needed affordable housing.”

The PRO Housing program is the latest success in Metro’s efforts to increase housing stock and make Nashville a more affordable city.