Vanderbilt University Peabody College of Education and Human Development

New Research, News Release

Peabody collaborates on $31 million grant for Nashville neighborhoods

topics: Communities

Elizabeth Older, elizabeth.older@vanderbilt.edu

Vanderbilt housing experts think struggling Nashville neighborhoods will get some relief from nearly $31 million in Recovery Act funding awarded to the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“This award is a wonderful opportunity for Nashville and a credit to the reputation of MDHA,” Susan Saegert, professor of Human and Organizational Development and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Community Studies, said. The Center for Community Studies assisted with the grant proposal through research and data analysis.

The grant – the only one given in Tennessee – will support efforts to stabilize weakened neighborhoods through purchasing and rehabilitating foreclosed and abandoned properties, redeveloping vacant properties as housing and establishing a financing mechanism for low- to middle-income homebuyers of foreclosed properties.

"The Housing Fund, Urban Housing Solutions, the Woodbine Community Organization, Pinnacle Financial Partners, Vanderbilt University's Center for Community Studies and MDHA collaborated on this successful proposal. These are great partners to have – experienced, creative and dedicated to this city,” said MDHA Executive Director Phil Ryan.

The award was given under HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program to spur economic development in hard-hit communities and create jobs. Nationally, nearly 60 grantees representing states, local governments and non-profit housing developers received $2 billion in competitive funding.

Peabody doctoral student Andrew Greer assisted with the grant proposal by analyzing housing needs in various areas of Davidson County through a Vanderbilt-sponsored summer project with The Housing Fund, Inc., and the Woodbine Community Organization. Along with other information sources, he drew upon a multi-year effort by Peabody faculty and graduate students who are building a comprehensive housing and community development database. In his analysis, Greer assessed the risk factors for property foreclosure and vacancy by census tracts, which helped the agencies target four areas in Nashville experiencing the most housing distress.

“I loved the experience of working on a team that secured funding for one of the largest housing grants in Nashville,” Greer, a second-year doctoral student in the Peabody Community Research and Action (CRA) program, said. Greer served as a Peace Corps volunteer before entering graduate school, where he worked with his community in Kwanyako, Ghana, to secure a $10,000 grant for a school computer lab.

Greer said he is looking forward to continuing his work with the Nashville housing agencies as he pursues his doctoral degree. He said the experience has taught him how rewarding it is to work with a non-profit and what it feels like to be part of a team that wins a major grant award.

Saegert said she is especially excited that the grant proposes developing a shared equity housing sector in Nashville, an idea she has been working on with CRA doctoral student Emily Thaden and others. A 2008 Affordable Housing Conference Saegert spearheaded highlighted the homeownership concept, in which governmental or non-profit agencies subsidize housing to make it more affordable while ensuring that resale prices remain within reach of lower-income buyers by sharing equity gains when the property changes hands.

“Research shows many renters and would-be first-time home buyers would benefit greatly from establishing a shared equity sector,” Saegert said, adding that the homeownership approach has not been used widely in the South. She said the needs analysis and housing solutions included in the MDHA grant request were “very forwarding-thinking, thorough and innovative.”

The health of neighborhoods and the people who live in them are a major focus in the work of several Peabody and center-affiliated faculty members and graduate students. Their research and policy analyses have focused on the types of housing most needed in Middle Tennessee, foreclosure trends, the benefits of neighborhood walkability and the role of neighborhood associations, among other issues.