A Chattanooga panel is drafting a letter to the mayor and city council expressing concern that projects coming before the board “are not always hitting the needs for affordable housing in our community.”
“We understand that there is a homeless crisis that we see needs to be addressed, but the board does not think that all projects coming to us are affordable,” said an initial draft of the letter from the city’s Health, Educational and Housing Facility Board revealed Monday.
The letter said that based on projects that have come before it, “we believe that the average low-to-moderate (income) people cannot afford the rental rates in our area.”
The draft was discussed at a meeting of the panel, and plans were to continue to work on the letter, said Hicks Armor, who chairs the board that oversees tax incentives for some affordable housing projects.
“I don’t want it to come across as critical and so I wanted to make sure we sent it you all,” he told the board members at the meeting.