In an effort to meet the growing demand for affordable housing in Nashville, the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency is seeking property owners who may be interested in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. This program provides low-income individuals and families an opportunity to find affordable housing in the private market. MDHA will host a landlord meeting from 1–3 pm, Friday, April 29, at the Randee Rogers Training Center, 1419 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard.

The purpose of the meeting is to explain how the program works and answer questions. Both landlords already enrolled in the program and landlords interested in learning more about the program are encouraged to attend.

Currently, there are more than 1,000 landlords who accept the more than 7,000 vouchers administered by MDHA.

Through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, low-income individuals and families pay between 30% and 40% of their adjusted income, or a minimum of $50 towards their rent and utilities, and MDHA pays the landlord the difference.

The program allows property owners to receive fair market value for their units, while providing individuals and families an affordable place to live. In order to qualify, participants must make less than 50% of area median income, which equals $24,000 for an individual and $34,250 for a family of four.

Since April is Fair Housing month, our guest speaker will be a representative from the Tennessee Fair Housing Council. They will give a presentation on Fair Housing and touch on U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule published last year.

The AFFH rule is designed to improve community planning in order to overcome fair housing issues.