Joey Garrison

jgarrison@tennessean.com

People who rent homes or apartments built with financial help from Nashville’s affordable housing fund would have to agree to “tenant conduct" requirements under an ordinance proposed in the Metro Council.

But the idea targeting the Barnes Fund for Affordable Housing has drawn pushback from some council members. They say the measure reinforces stigmas that low-income neighborhoods are dangerous and that low-income families lack responsibility.

The proposal also faces opposition from Mayor Megan Barry’s administration and The Rev. Bill Barnes, the Nashville affordable housing advocate for whom the housing fund is named after.

In a letter to council members last week, Barnes suggested the new proposal unfairly creates suspicion that affordable housing developments are places riddled with crime.

“Our deep hope is that my name will never be a part of a cloud of suspicion,” Barnes wrote.

Councilman DeCosta Hastings, who represents parts of Bordeaux and MetroCenter, is the lead sponsor of the tenant conduct legislation. At the request of Hastings, who cited a “misunderstanding” with his measure, the council Tuesday voted to defer the bill’s final third reading vote until next month.

The city’s Barnes Fund functions as a pool of city incentives for developers who build affordable or workforce housing. Barry and the council earlier this year pumped a record $10 million into the fund, a jolt that will allow the Barnes Fund to generate a greater number of housing units.

A 1975 Tennessee law already requires tenants to comply with maintenance and conduct standards and refrain from illegal conduct. The new Metro proposal, according to an analysis from council attorney Mike Jameson, would formalize these standards into a new “tenant conduct clause” that would be added to rental agreements with properties receiving Barnes fund grants.

The clause would repeat the provision in the state law that says tenants are not to take part in illegal activity, deliberately or negligently deface property or act in a way that disturbs neighbors.

If a tenant fails to comply with these restrictions, the landlord would be required to take "all steps reasonably necessary" to protect other tenants.

Hastings, who grew up in the former John Henry Hale Apartments off of Charlotte Avenue, said his bill was inspired largely from his recent experience dealing with a pair of affordable housing homes on his street that have attracted gun violence and drug activity. He said he is standing up for his constituents.

“We want the management — the owners, the renters — to do a better job about policing (activity) inside of those places,” he said. “It should not be a waste of dollars.”

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In a spirited speech on the council floor Tuesday, Hastings explained his rationale and also referenced his opposition, which he said has included Nashvillians who don’t actually live in areas that have affordable housing.

“This change is not one to make people who are low-income not necessarily have a place to go,” Hastings said. “This is not a push to exile or push away people because of money.

“We can’t sit around and pretend like there’s no issues. I’m not afraid of any nonprofit organizations. I don’t care who sends me an email. I don’t care if you’re a priest or a rabbi. I’m a man of God. This is what’s right.”

The Metro Development and Housing Agency prohibits criminal activity among residents who live in Nashville’s public housing communities, but MDHA does not outline specific conduct that is prohibited, according to Jameson’s analysis. Jameson said the new tenant-conduct proposal does not violate the federal Fair Housing Act.

Hastings led the deferral of his bill Tuesday to allow more time to continue to work with council colleagues and others, but some have made clear they oppose the bill.

“Unfortunately, the way this bill was presented, this amounts to a reinforcement of a stigma associated with poverty — that responsibility is lacking,” Councilman Freddie O’Connell wrote to constituents in an email letter.

“Whether the community concern is public safety, public nuisance, or some other legitimate concern, I believe we can address it in a way that allows the Barnes Fund to have its monies allocated in a way that promotes dignity."

In a statement on Barry’s opposition to the bill as currently written, mayor’s office press secretary Sean Braisted said Barry “wants to see Nashville reducing barriers to affordable housing, not increasing them."

During debate on the bill earlier this month, Councilman Colby Sledge, the council's representative on the Metro Housing Trust Fund Commission, said the bill would "send a message" that is contradictory to the commission's mission, which is to expand affordable housing options.

But others back the measure.

At-large Councilman Bob Mendes expressed support for the bill earlier this month, arguing it strikes an appropriate balance between property concerns and rights of tenants.

"It maintains the dignity and I think sets really basic standards that, if you look in the leases for your employers, these things are in leases," he said. "And it retains the discretion for landlords to take all the circumstances into account."

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-714-0539 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.