The housing challenges in Johnson City have skyrocketed over the last few years. This is causing an issue for current residents, new residents and college students.

Will Righter, the director of Planning and Development Services, works with rezoning or annexing property that could be used for housing, which is then passed to the commission for approval. Righter and his team have been helping grow Johnson City by pushing requests along for property usage to help build housing. With the commission approving the Burlington Park rezoning, these 773 multi-family housing units could open up more room for current and new residents.

“These past couple of winters, I have not seen any change in the amount of work that we have to process. A lot of people moving into Johnson City and we get a lot of requests to build and develop,” stated Righter.

Community Development Coordinator in Johnson City, Wayne Lyons, deals with city grants and funding for nonprofit organizations that deal with housing. He spoke about how he alongside the community development crew has tried to find solutions to this issue.

Exterior photo taken at The Henry On Main. (Abby Trembeczki/East Tennessean)

“Part of what the city has done in this not only have we distributed these funds to the separate recipients, but there is some city-owned property that we’ve been able to convey ownership to, which makes it more affordable,” stated Lyons.

This has allowed these organizations to build these houses cheaper for residents of Johnson City. Lyons mentions how the city is trying to help nonprofit organizations lower the costs so that they can build housing for residents who need it.

“The people who are getting priced out of their housing are not people who are relocating here. It is the people who live here and want to stay here, who are getting priced out,” stated Ralph Perrey, executive director of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency.

Lyons states that fewer resources are available to help with housing issues as more people move in. There is a bill in the works, Senate Bill 2496, that would allow incentive developers to build affordable housing, but until then it is a challenge for the developers of Johnson City. The overall goal is to aid in helping current residents be able to afford housing without having to relocate to a surrounding area, along with aid in helping these organizations receive funding for affordable housing.

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