According to Realtor.com, Memphis, TN was recently rated as the #1 real estate market in the United States, a place where first-time buyers regularly compete with investors for homes. There are an exceptionally high number of renters in the city (54% compared to the U.S. average of 36%) which is also known for its business-friendly environment with three Fortune 500 companies (FedEx Corp., AutoZone Inc., and International Paper Co.) headquartered there. and thousands of other companies making the city their home.
In 2019, Bloomberg ranked Memphis as the #1 metro area in the U.S. for job growth rate over the previous decade and this was before Ford announced its plans to build BlueOval City, a 3,600 EV manufacturing facility just outside Memphis that will ultimately create 6,000 new jobs. Given this, it would seem that Memphis’ future is very bright. Unfortunately, when taking a closer look under the hood, one discovers that Memphis is suffering from the exact same critical issue that faces the entire nation – an enormous lack of affordable housing that is growing direr every day.
According to the City of Memphis’ 2020 State of Memphis Housing Report, there is a shortage of more than 30,000 affordable housing units (those with rents at 60% of Area Median Income (AMI) or lower) and one in five Memphis renters face eviction at least once in any given year. This staggering undersupply must be dealt with immediately but it requires innovation, a shift in development approach, and increased stakeholder collaboration via public/private partnerships.
One excellent example of this kind of approach can be found in Manatee County, Florida where affordable housing developer, One Stop Housing is working with Bradenton city officials and local employers who are chipping in to provide housing for their employees. This kind of business model would be ideal for Memphis. But, more on this in a moment.
One Stop’s business model focuses on renovating hotels, malls, schools, and other vacant properties and converting them into affordable rentals. In some cases, it builds new from the ground up. The organization serves as both developers and operators and uses the savings to provide lower rents, keeping them within 60-80% of the AMI range. One Stop Housing currently owns and manages 300 workforce housing units in Memphis – Bantam Apartments Springbrook and Bantam Apartments Airways.
If you are a local employer, public official, or an advocate for affordable workforce housing in the Memphis, TN area and would like to learn more about One Stop Housing’s employer-supported workforce housing initiatives in Florida, or its efforts in Memphis, contact Managing Partner, Mark Vengroff at (321) 304-7410 or visit https://onestophousing.com/.