Metro Nashville outlines $10.8 million CDBG-DR plan to rebuild homes, prioritizes 24th Avenue site

Metro Nashville’s Housing Division on Wednesday laid out a draft Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) action plan that would channel about $10.83 million into four activities: acquisition and rehabilitation of vacant tornado-impacted homes, construction of new for-sale homes, mitigation work on at‑risk owner-occupied properties, and grant administration.

Trenton Allsbrooks, housing program specialist with Metro Planning, told a virtual public hearing that the funds respond to the March 3, 2020, tornado and are intended for long-term recovery and neighborhood stabilization, not immediate repair work. “This grant is meant to address unmet housing needs, to further long-term recovery and neighborhood stabilization,” Allsbrooks said.

The plan divides funds roughly among rehabilitation/reconstruction (about $1.6 million), new construction (about $7.06 million), mitigation ($1.624 million) and administration (about $515,593), Allsbrooks said. He emphasized all activities are subject to approval by the State of Tennessee Economic and Community Development (TNECD) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Why it matters: Metro staff said the programs aim to return affordable homeownership to neighborhoods hit by the tornado, preserve housing stock and reduce future disaster risk. Most activities will be targeted to a set of ZIP codes identified in the action plan as “most impacted and distressed.” The plan ties…