Urban planning is front in center in Nashville, with a general plan update underway and a mayoral election looming on August 6. One candidate took to the editorial pages of The Tennessean to lay out a housing and transit agenda.
An op-ed by Bill Freeman, a mayoral candidate in Nashville, argues for an agenda that would kill two birds with one stone by addressing affordable housing and mass transit. Freeman first notes that soaring cost of living in the city, where over 60 percent of the residents are spending more than half of theory income on housing and transportation costs, then he notes two of the traditional approaches to these challenges:
"We can build all of the affordable housing we want, but if it’s at the edge of the county, without connected sidewalks or bike lanes, mass transit will remain more of a hassle than a help."
And:
"Conversely, if we focus solely on building a robust mass transit system around Nashville, but are still pricing residents out of their homes and forcing them into neighboring counties, is that worth it?"
Freeman goes onto lay out the beginnings of a comprehensive transportation plan and a goal of adding 10,000 affordable housing units over the next four years.
FULL STORY: Fix Nashville mass transit, affordable housing at once
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research