Opinion: How Chattanooga plans to add affordability to the housing market

Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Mai Bell II, an affordable housing complex in Highland Park, is seen on Friday, March 1, 2024.

The lack of affordable housing has exploded into one of the most challenging problems facing America's cities.

Mayors across the country are being pressured to address the lack of affordability in the housing and rental markets. For a number of reasons, that task is easier said than done.

According to home and apartment search engine Zillow, Tennessee rental prices in February averaged at $1,733 a month and inched up to $1,740 in March. That monthly cost is too burdensome for many families; remember that the average household income in Tennessee is a little more than $60,000, according to Census data.

According to city data, Chattanooga is expected to have a shortfall of 7,000 affordable units by 2030.

And between 2016 and 2021, one out of every four rental homes became unaffordable to households earning $35,000, according to data from the group Chattanoogans in Action for Love, Equality & Benevolence. Since 2021, the cost of rent has increased 30% — outpacing the 13% growth in household incomes.

In 2022, Hamilton County saw the largest annual rent increase in the past decade, the Chattanooga Times Free Press previously reported.

​Chattanooga officials have heard the demand for more affordable housing, and after months of work, have developed several strategies to incentivize development of these housing units.

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