Chattanooga Offers Free Land for Affordable Housing

The city of Chattanooga will donate 11 city-owned properties for affordable housing development as part of a new land bank program. As David Floyd explains in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the city will accept proposals from builders and begin distributing the properties in January of 2025.

“Apartments built on the properties must be affordable to renters making 80% or less of the area median income, which is about $56,000,” and must remain affordable for 10 years. Homes built on the land cannot be sold for more than $200,000 and must be sold to first-time homebuyers with incomes equal or lesser than the area median income. “City officials are clearing the titles on tax-foreclosed properties, and they have so far identified about 50 suitable for development.”

Earlier this year, Chattanooga reformed its tax breaks for affordable housing developers, giving builders a more flexible option by offering tax savings based on the number of affordable units in a project. “A new state law also allows the city to adopt voluntary affordable housing incentives for developers, which could reward builders with, for example, increased density if they add affordable units to their projects.”