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Tennessee City Struggles With Affordable Housing Crisis

Lukasz Stefanski
/
123rf Stock Photo

Leaders of a Tennessee city are struggling to find a solution to rising homelessness and poverty rates as housing costs increase and Section 8 housing options dwindle.

The Tennessean reported Saturday that Nashville's population grows by about 100 people each day, an increase that has only served to deepen the city's affordable housing crisis. The city's tourist and development boom has caused property values to spike, and low-income residents that qualify for federally subsidized housing vouchers are increasingly unable to use them.

The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency says the number of city landlords accepting the Section 8 vouchers has fallen from roughly 1,250 in 2010 to 950. MDHA spokeswoman Jamie Berry says the agency desperately needs landlords to offer more units that accept Section 8 vouchers.

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