Government

Affordable Housing Coming for Seniors in North Nashville

THE TENNESSEE TRIBUNE — eople age 62 and up will be able to find affordable housing in a new development complex being built in North Nashville.

Published

7 years ago

May 26, 2019

Clare Bratten

By Clare Bratten

NASHVILLE, TN — People age 62 and up will be able to find affordable housing in a new development complex being built in North Nashville slated for completion in summer of 2020. Fifty-five rental units in a contemporary complex (complete with a rooftop solar panels) will be located at 26th and Clarksville as Phase III in what will be a three-building complex with multigenerational housing. Phases I is built and Phase II opens this summer. A Phase III ground breaking marked the beginning of the new construction.

The facility called “TN-SILVER” (which is an acronym for “Supportive Integrated Living for Vulnerable Elderly Renters”) will include health and wellness support that will help older residents live independently. The project is being developed by Urban Housing Solutions as part of their affordable housing project at the site after consulting with non profit agencies who advocate for seniors and finding solutions.

“We always talk about aging in place, but Tennessee is a state that ranks 43rd in senior health – it also ranks in the 40s in services and support systems. That puts seniors attempting to age in place at risk in our communities, extremely vulnerable,” said Vickie Harris, one of the consultants for the project. Harris, an expert on senior health and wellness was chair of the board for the Council on Aging in Tennessee, and now is founder and CEO for Community ConneXor. “This state ranks high in cardio vascular diabetes and diabetes. So, low income older adults are highly represented in that category,” said Harris.

“Just being a senior creates vulnerability because of multiple chronic conditions. What we have is the integration of housing as a base, because we need safe affordable housing for seniors, then we’re adding to that – technology. As their chronic conditions begin to take their tolls (such as falls), how do we use technology that creates a communication link to those who may be able to assist quicker,” said Harris.

The third layer that Urban Housing Solutions is adding to TN SILVER is supportive service coordination. The housing development will include a clinic which will help seniors navigate other health services available to them. “I don’t know if you’ve tried to navigate our community resource ecosystem. In fact, I’m not even sure we could call it a system. It’s a lot of great organizations doing work, but as an individual, you must go to each one of those agencies. Older adults do not have that capacity. So TN SILVER truly is an innovation comprehensive solution at a time when Nashville is in the midst of an affordable housing shortage and experiencing a rapidly expanding population of low and moderate income older adults. We know when we look around the North Nashville area that hundreds of North Nashville older adults have excessive housing costs and/or are living in housing with serious physical problems,” said Harris.

Tracy Patton, Director of Community Housing Services at Urban Housing Solutions described other amenities of the complex. “The addition of a shaded pedestrian walkway with ample seating, a community building with classes with intergenerational programming, an onsite clinic will elevate the continual care that promotes long term health care for our residents at 26th and Clarksville.”

Brent Elrod, Director of Planning and Development for Urban Housing Solutions said the emphasis on senior housing was new for Urban Housing Solutions and this project was slated for completion in summer of 2020.

“We’ve never actually developed an intentional senior housing project project . . .Urban Housing Solutions is a private non-profit which builds affordable housing. Over the last couple of years, we’ve been lucky to happy support and guidance from local experts here who are more familiar with the needs of the senior community and make this a real model for the rest of the state,” said Elrod.

Elrod said his group consulted with non-profits who were knowledgeable about the needs of the older community members such as Vickie Harris, Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability, Council on Aging, Fifty Forward, AARP, Senior Ride, Vanderbilt School of Nursing, and Tennessee State University.

Elrod recognized the government and corporate partners who are financing, designing, landscaping parts of the TN SILVER complex. The Tennessee Housing Development Agency awarded the low-income housing tax credits for this project, Pinnacle Bank who purchased the tax credits and provided the construction loan. Metropolitan Development Housing Agency awarded 52 project-based vouchers and Fifth Third Bank supported the rooftop solar array.

“We’ve got a great development team working on this project: the Danielian Associates architects, as well as David Baker Architects for contributing their design vision,” said Elrod.

This article originally appeared in The Tennessee Tribune.

Clare Bratten

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Community

Four Candidates, Including Incumbent Barbara Lee, Qualify for Oakland Mayor’s Race

POST NEWS GROUP — Four candidates, including incumbent Mayor Barbara Lee, filed their papers to run for office by last Friday’s deadline, and the City Clerk issued a list this week of those who are qualified to run.

Published

21 hours ago

August 15, 2026

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View of downtown Oakland, California and City Hall. iStock photo.

By Post Staff

The four mayoral candidates who will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot are:

Brenda Grisham. A business owner in East Oakland and public safety advocate, Grisham led the successful recall campaign against Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price. As part of her platform, she pledges to work with local, state, and federal partners to secure stricter gun control measures and investments in community violence intervention programs.

Barbara Lee. A former congressional representative and state Assembly member, Lee was elected by voters in a special election last year for a two-year term. Now running for a four-year term, she points out that her administration achieved major successes in addressing some of the city’s major challenges, including balancing the city budget, dramatically reducing crime, and making significant inroads into homelessness and illegal dumping.

Mindy Pechenuk. An educator and activist, Pechenuk is a registered Republican and supporter of Lyndon LaRouche, who has been described by observers as a conspiracy theorist and cult leader. She ran unsuccessfully for mayor in last year’s special election and for the at-large council seat in 2024. She seeks to end Oakland’s police commission and MACRO and invest in more police while launching a new local war on drugs.

Julius Robinson. While little information is available so far about Robinson, he was quoted in a KTVU story about Thao’s recall, stating that people in Oakland want to come together as a community but lack infrastructure and leadership.

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026

Published

23 hours ago

August 15, 2026

Oakland Post

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Commentary

COMMENTARY: Why Local School Tax Measure G1 Will Not Be on the November Ballot

POST NEWS GROUP — Measure G1 is the local tax measure that supports middle school teacher retention and the expansion of arts, music, and world language programs at both OUSD middle schools and charter middle schools. The current measure expires in 2029.

Published

24 hours ago

August 15, 2026

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By Jennifer Brouhard, Oakland School Board President

There has been considerable speculation recently about why Measure G1 will not appear on the November ballot and what that means for the Oakland Unified School District’s current budget.

I want to provide some clarity about what happened and, importantly, what did not happen.

Measure G1 is the local tax measure that supports middle school teacher retention and the expansion of arts, music, and world language programs at both OUSD middle schools and charter middle schools. The current measure expires in 2029.

Because these funds are important to our schools and to the continuity of these programs, the district initially intended to place a renewal initiative on the November ballot to provide greater early certainty about funding beyond the expiration of the current measure.

As part of that process, the Board scheduled a special meeting for the required public hearing on the ballot initiative. There has been some suggestion that this meeting was noticed only one day in advance. That is not accurate.

Public hearings of this nature are subject to specific notice requirements, and the meeting must be noticed at least two weeks before the hearing. In practice, the notice may appear even earlier depending on publication schedules. The notice for the Measure G1 public hearing was published in the Tribune on 7/24/2026 and 7/31/2026.

So, why wasn’t the Measure G1 paperwork ultimately filed?

After the Board approved placing the measure on the ballot, the next step required the Alameda County Superintendent of Schools to sign the necessary paperwork before it could be submitted to the Oakland City Clerk.

During that process, Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro raised concerns about potential litigation stemming from another court case unrelated to OUSD and about whether proceeding with the measure could expose the district or County to legal challenges. Superintendent Castro’s action is unprecedented and concerning.

It is important to distinguish between the Board’s decision to pursue Measure G1 and the subsequent procedural and legal issues that arose. The Board did approve moving forward with the measure. The measure did not fail because the Board chose not to support it, nor was the public hearing improperly noticed.

The decision not to proceed with the November ballot was made in light of the County’s concerns about potential litigation and the County’s required approval process.

We also need to be clear about what this does, and does not, mean for OUSD’s current budget. The existing Measure G1 funds remain available through the expiration of the current measure in 2029. The immediate issue is the longer-term continuity of funding beyond that date, not the elimination of these resources from the current year’s budget.

Our responsibility as a Board is to protect the educational programs and services our students depend on while ensuring that our decisions comply with the law and protect the district from unnecessary legal and financial risk.

We will continue working to understand the County’s concerns, explore our options, and advocate for the resources our students deserve. Our middle school students, teachers, and school communities deserve stability, and continued investment in arts, music, world languages, and teacher retention—and that work remains a priority for Oakland Unified.

Jennifer Brouhard is a retired OUSD educator and is the current OUSD School Board President representing District 2.