Metro Nashville will have more money than ever this year in its Barnes Fund for affordable housing. And the jump — from about $1 million to more than $5 million — has officials reevaluating how the money can best be spent.
On Wednesday, the Metro Housing Trust Fund Commission, which oversees the money, voted to stop taking new grant applications while it adjusts its rules and waits for the increased funding to arrive.
Since its creation in 2013, the trust fund has given out about $5 million for housing construction and rehabilitation projects. Per the fund’s rules, homes built with the money must be sold below market rate or rented at low cost to families that typically earn no more than 80 percent of the area median income — and sometimes much less.
Pausing the grant cycle wasn’t an easy decision.
It follows shortly after the Metro Council indefinitely postponed a vote on new, highly anticipated affordable housing policies. And while the Barnes Fund has backed nearly 100 units, only about half have been built so far.
One reason for the delay: (continue reading at WPLN)