For more than 20 years, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program has played a critical role in creating and preserving affordable housing for low-income families, the elderly, persons with disabilities, veterans and those facing homelessness.
A lack of affordable housing is one of the nation’s most pressing economic problems. Yet funding for this federal program is in serious jeopardy. A proposed Senate bill for fiscal year 2016 cuts the HOME program by 93 percent from $900 million to $66 million. Here in Nashville, funding would drop from $1.7 million in 2015 to $126,000 in 2016. At this level, the program would not be viable.
HOME funds are crucial to addressing the affordable housing crisis in Nashville. Since the program’s inception, Nashville has been awarded more than $65 million. Those funds have been used to produce or preserve more than 4,400 affordable homes in Nashville, and several new projects are currently underway. Most HOME-funded projects are rental projects that benefit low-income individuals and families making 30 percent or below the Area Median Income (AMI).
Learn more about HOME and how it has helped Nashville.
The HOME program is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and operated by the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) on behalf of the city of Nashville.
MDHA participated in a national #SaveHOME campaign during the week of Aug. 31. Read and watch the local news coverage on WKRN, WSMV, Nashville Scene and The Tennessean.
HOME Success Story
Sharon Parsons’ story is one of survival. She was abandoned by her parents at an early age, struggled with addiction for more than 20 years and was in and out of jail during that time. In May 2013, Parsons began a one year jail sentence, and it was during that time she decided it was time to turn her life around.