Board OKs $50,000 sole-source contract to update Chattanooga market value analysis

The Health Education Housing Facilities Board voted to authorize a sole-source purchase of services from the Reinvestment Fund to produce an updated market value analysis (MVA) of Chattanooga’s housing market, at a cost of $50,000. The board approved the resolution after staff said the update is necessary to capture market changes since the original analysis and to preserve comparability with prior work.

Veronica Vendors, director of business finance for the city, told the board that the original MVA used a methodology developed by the Reinvestment Fund and drew on census data available at the time; staff said the 2023 analysis relied on pre-pandemic benchmarks and that an update using the same vendor and methodology would allow “apples-to-apples” comparison. Staff also said census data through 2023 and other sales metrics inform the report and that the Reinvestment Fund’s methodology accounts for local geographic factors such as Chattanooga’s topography.

Board members asked about alternatives and whether universities, realtors or private consultants could produce similar work. Staff said they regularly work with UTC and local realtor data but chose the same vendor for this update so the outputs remain directly comparable to the baseline study. Members also asked whether the updated MVA would be made publicly available; staff confirmed it would be published and shared with partner agencies and developers.

The resolution designates $50,000 from the housing trust fund and was approved by unanimous voice vote. Staff said the update is intended for internal policy use and to inform partners about neighborhood-level market change and housing production priorities.