Metro outlines $10.8 million housing plan from 2020 tornado recovery grant

Metro Nashville officials on Tuesday detailed how they would use about $10.8 million in disaster recovery funding tied to the March 2020 tornado, describing programs that would reimburse some homeowners, finance nonprofit acquisition and rehabilitation of vacant homes for resale to lower‑income buyers, fund new for‑sale construction and award mitigation grants.

Angie Hubbard, director of the housing division at Metro Planning, told an online public hearing that the funds arrived via the state of Tennessee after a delayed federal appropriation and state action‑plan process. "This presentation is being recorded and will be posted on the Metro YouTube channel," Hubbard said, and she outlined that the city is a subrecipient of the state award and must complete a local action plan for state and HUD approval.

Hubbard gave a total program figure of $10,827,467 and described five categories of activity: homeowner reimbursement, rehab/reconstruction of acquired vacant properties to be sold to income‑eligible buyers, new construction for sale, mitigation awards, and administration. She said the grant is intended for long‑term recovery, not immediate response, and that beneficiaries are generally households at or below 80% of area median income.

On homeowner reimbursement, Hubbard said eligible households must have lived in the damaged home as their principal residence at the time of the disaster and still live there, must be income eligible, and must provide documentation such as invoices or receipts; Metro will perform a duplication‑of‑benefits…