Friend, 

One of my top priorities as mayor is finding way to make housing more affordable and accessible for all Chattanoogans.

That's why I'm so excited to to share with you the City of Chattanooga's first-ever Housing Action Plan, which we released this week. This plan is the result of six months of an intensive analysis of our housing market and inventory. It's a framework for action that will accelerate our progress toward ensuring that anyone can afford to call Chattanooga home.

I won't sugar coat it: We could be in trouble if we don't take action now. Our analysis found that we are about 1,700 affordable housing units short today and that number could climb to over 7,000 units by 2030 without additional action.

Here are some key recommendations included in the Housing Action Plan:

• Fully fund Chattanooga’s Housing Trust Fund to aid the creation of affordable and workforce housing.
  
• Update local tax increment financing (TIF) policy to include housing affordability requirements.
  
• Support Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to provide acquisition and long-term financing to preserve existing affordable rental homes.
• Reform the Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILOT) Program to increase the incentive for housing development for greater impact.
• Launch a Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) to provide acquisition and long-term financing to preserve existing affordable rental homes.
• Open a low-barrier shelter to eliminate obstacles for homeless individuals to access shelter. 
• Continue conducting landlord education and outreach to expand the pool of landlords of affordable renal units.
• Establish a capacity-building program to help smaller affordable housing developers.
• Engage lenders to adapt their mortgage products for households facing systemic barriers.
  

Our team is dedicated to making sure that Chattanooga is a place that works for everybody - and we're doing that every day in City Hall. I'm proud of the progress we've made so far, and we're just getting started. I hope you’ll take some time to familiarize yourself with the Housing Action Plan. You’ll be hearing more about it in the weeks and months to come!

As always, if my office can be of any assistance to you or if you have questions, comments, or concerns, please don’t hesitate  to email me at mayor@chattanooga.gov.

Sincerely,

Tim Kelly

Mayor, City of Chattanooga

We're Addressing Housing Head-On

Working families need to be able to call Chattanooga home. If we don't do something now, our teachers, firefighters, and hospitality workers won't be able to afford to live here - and that's just flatly unacceptable.

Our Housing Action Plan is a bold framework. Our goals? To build a robust and accessible housing ecosystem that provides opportunities to our city's working families who help keep our city moving.

For the first time in our city's history, we have a playbook. The Housing Action Plan gives us a set of policy and programmatic tools for how we can maximize the scale and speed of the progress we’re already making.

Join us at an upcoming Affordable Housing Resource Fair:

• Thursday, Sept. 7: 4:30 pm-7:00 pm at Carver Community Center
• Monday, Oct. 2: 4:30 pm-7:00 pm at Chris Ramsey Community Center.

We're Planning Our City's Next Chapter

The Plan Chattanooga Survey closes soon. Do you care about the future of Chattanooga's neighborhoods, housing, commercial areas, infrastructure, transportation, parks, facilities, and natural resources?

We want to hear your voice about Chattanooga's future. Take our Plan Chattanooga Survey to help decide. The survey closes September 16.

In the Community

This is what I mean when I say I want to create a responsive, effective government that works for everyone. I presented Zach Hull from our Parks and Outdoors Department with a Mayoral Award for the work he did to restore our iconic Coolidge Park Fountains after a major pipe burst during the peak of summer. Thanks to dedicated employees like Zach, we can solve the city's big problems and the little ones, too.

Welcome to the newest cohort of the Mayor's Youth Council! These 43 high school students are some of Chattanooga's best and brightest, and they'll be working with my administration over the next year to bring real, meaningful change to our city.

I've still got it 😎⚽That's right, folks. Your mayor is a pretty decent goalie!

Humble bragging aside, I had a great time playing this season with the Chattanooga Football League, and I was honored to receive the Golden Glove Award for my division. Great job to everyone who played this season!

Upcoming Opportunities

• Celebrate Labor Day weekend with the last Nightfall concert of 2023! 🎵 The free concert series will conclude tonight, Friday, September 1, with a free concert in Miller Plaza starting at 7 p.m.
• Our community centers are expanding their hours! Starting Monday, September 11, community centers will be open later, giving Chattanoogans more opportunity to utilize these spaces. Learn more here.

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