TIF Questions - And Response

  • Saturday, May 27, 2023
I have just read the article in Chattanoogan.com regarding the Westside, which was strategically placed this Friday evening before a three-day weekend. I'm wondering if someone can say how many of the 629 units being replaced in College Hill Courts and the Gateway Towers will be available at the current monthly rate. Will the people who live there now have to find some place to live in the interim and will they be brought back when this is done? Or will they have to reapply?

 

As to the 10 percent of the new units that will be available to folks making less than 80 percent of the median income, it might be a good thing to put out there how much money per month that figure actually is, and how it compares to the current rental rates in the neighborhood.

To be perfectly honest, the whole thing sounds like another tax giveaway and gentrification project.
But I'll be waiting to see if anyone explains this in a way that puts it in a different light.
 
Darlene Kilgore

 

* * * 

Ms. Kilgore,

You hit the nail on the head regarding the obscure language related to median income.  Note the 10 percent of units reserved are for those at or below 80 percent of the median income of others in the development.  They are not being reserved for those at or below 80 percent of the median income in Chattanooga.  This development will be for rather affluent individuals. 

So, the median income of those living there will likely be over $250,000 per year.  That would mean they are reserving 10 percent of the units for people making around $200,000 per year.  This is the game they play to sell the community on the tax giveaway.  It's to help with affordable housing! 

The Devil is in the details. They are wordsmithing what they are doing to make it look like something it is not.  They are adding profits to the bottom line of the developer.  That line of PR or marketing would not sell well to the citizens of Hamilton County. So, they make it sound like they are promoting affordable housing.

Jerry Yates


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