East Tennessee showed up June 16 for the Regional Council meeting. Reports on Disaster Recovery and a preview of existing budget discussions from Joshua Stuart of fahe were first. Then a presentation on a new tool for financing housing-related work was delivered by Matt Wiltshire of Pathway Lending. PC 1012 allows certain communities to issue bonds. 

A community can then use the proceeds of that debt issuance to pursue a variety of strategies, including:

• making low-interest loans to owners of apartment buildings in exchange for those properties remaining affordable for the duration of the loan;

• funding infrastructure investments for developers of new affordable housing units; 

• making investments alongside developers who are building homes to sell to lower-income Tennesseans; and 

• a wide variety of other incentives for communities to help create the type of housing their citizens need.

Many thanks to Steve Dixon and Bank of Tennessee for lunch.

​

West Tennessee chose a locally-owned business for its venue and added a tour of soon-to-be-ready homes from United Housing, Inc. and secured news coverage. Convergence Memphis sponsored the lunch from Wing Guru.

​

Middle Tennessee involved a local health provider for the meeting venue,

underscoring the community-building aspect of housing. Mercy Community Healthcare 

provided a great space. The picture shows Lethia Mann, Community Development Manager,

at Regions Bank following up with Pathway Lending's Matt Wiltshire who addressed

each of the June Regional Council meetings about the legislation passed in 2024 providing municipalities the ability to issue bonds for housing development.

Many thanks to Corporate Member Organization Hard Bargain Association for lunch. 

​