Support tax break for affordable housing
As recent reports emphasize, Chattanooga is in a mounting crisis of working class housing.
Ameliorating this crisis can begin with the development of 120 rental units affordable to working families making 50 to 60 percent of the area’s median income at 5921 Highway 58 in Harrison. Trent Development Group’s proposal has been granted a Federal LIHTC (Low-Income Housing Tax Credit) and a city PILOT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes), but now faces a peculiar feature of the county tax system: without county -level PILOT approval, not only will it not receive additional tax credits, but the value of the LIHTC will be taxed away.
It’s important to note these credits won’t touch money going to local schools.
Many of us feel burned by the willy-nilly dispensation of PILOTs to development that doesn’t meet real community needs; however, we shouldn’t let past bad decisions poison the well. Educate yourselves about this proposal, contact your county commissioners, and urge them to vote in favor of PILOT status for the Flats at 58.