The Housing Facilities Board of the City of Chattanooga on a voice vote approved a resolution authorizing the chair to execute an agreement with Enterprise Community Partners to launch a local "faith-based development initiative" that pairs training and development grants with technical assistance.

Enterprise Community Partners’ representative (S8) told the board the program is a three-year cohort offering 75 hours of free training, one-on-one development consulting and reimbursable development grants to help faith organizations assess whether their land is suitable for affordable housing or community facilities. The initiative is a pilot in Chattanooga; S8 said Enterprise has run similar programs in other cities and this will be their first cohort in Chattanooga.

The resolution authorizes a city match of $500,000. S8 said philanthropic partners — the Maclellan Foundation plus initial grants from the Community Foundation and the Generosity Trust — will provide additional funding; the board discussed that the city’s portion was transferred by a council resolution (identified during discussion as resolution number 32637) and that disbursement will be split across two calendar years (roughly half in a fourth quarter and the remainder in April 2026). S8 described the grants as largely reimbursable development grants (for items such as market studies) and said the cohort will include up to eight faith organizations.

Board members asked about outreach and recruitment. S8 said Enterprise will host a "clarion call" event at the downtown library on Jan. 7 for interested houses of worship and that applications will open around that date for a four- to six-week window. S8 said the curriculum is fixed and that the program will introduce local developers, builders and financing partners during workshops so faith groups can make an informed ‘‘go/no‑go’’ decision about development on their properties.

The board also asked how the initiative’s results will be measured. S8 said program metrics are set in the scope of work and include training hours and sessions delivered; S8 emphasized that identifying and readying land is a long pipeline and that Enterprise is investing in capacity-building rather than promising a fixed number of housing units.

The chair called for the vote after discussion; the board voted 'aye' with no recorded opposition and the resolution passed.

Next steps: Enterprise will host the Jan. 7 information event and the city will proceed with execution of the agreement and scheduled disbursements.