Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

In the fast-growing Volunteer State, affordable housing is a challenge, particularly for companies trying to attract workers, and several organizations have come together in Metro Nashville to address the need.

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT), First Horizon, the Metro Housing Division, and Vanderbilt University have created The Nashville Catalyst Fund to provide fast, flexible capital to mission-driven developers to enable them to move quickly in Nashville’s competitive real estate landscape. The Fund will launch with an initial $75 million – $20 million from Metro Nashville government, a $50 million credit facility led by First Horizon, and $5 million from Vanderbilt University – with a goal to raise an additional $25 million.

“The Nashville Catalyst Fund is a public-private partnership that builds on our existing affordable housing tools, and we expect it will help preserve and create at least 3,000 affordable places to live in Nashville over the next 10 years,” said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell. “The Fund will provide fast, flexible loans to help affordable housing partners preserve affordable rental homes that would otherwise be lost to the market and increase affordable housing production so more Nashvillians have dependable housing for themselves and their families for the long-term.”

The loans from the fund will support affordable housing developers working to preserve and develop income-restricted housing for 30 years and beyond, as well as bringing unregulated housing into income and rent regulations, which ensures the population in need is benefiting the most.

Metro’s initial investment of $20 million come from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and after a competitive procurement process, Metro partnered with Forsyth Street Asset Management and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to set up the Fund’s structure and find investors.

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