Thursday, November 16, 2017

Pizza with Planners: Affordable Housing



Housing Trust Funds may help Memphis

By: Timothy Redd
Timothy Redd
On Tuesday November 14, 2017 I attended Pizza with Planners. The topic was affordable housing. There was a robust conversation about housing disparity and affordable housing in Memphis.

Justin Entzminger from Innovate Memphis walked us through the landscape the challenges Memphis faces. Some key things form the 2017 American Community Survey were:


  • Memphis has lost the highest amount of affordable housing nationally.
  • There are more renters than homeowners here, 53 % of people here rent which is an 11% increase.  
  • Research shows a correlation between housing and poor out comes related to mental and physical health, family stability, neighborhood sustainability
  • Low home ownership, low home values, and high vacancy add to high cost burden.


Michael Anderson, Center for Community Change Director told us about how housing trust funds could address and remedy the need for affordable housing. Housing trust funds are distinct funds established by city, county or state governments that receive ongoing dedicated sources of public funding to support the preservation and production of affordable housing. Housing trust funds can increase opportunities for families and individuals to access decent affordable homes. 

Today more than 770 housing trust funds have been established across 47 states contributing a 1.2 billion dollar revenue. Nashville has established one as well as Knoxville and it has helped people attain affordable housing. 

I think this is a great initiative we learned in many cities voters went to the ballot box and voted measured for affordable housing. I left the meeting thinking this could be a push in the right direction but I also was left wondering how we make housing trust funds happen here. To learn more about this initiative check out https://housingtrustfundproject.org/

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