The Tennessee Housing Development Agency reports Cookeville will need roughly 3,000 additional affordable housing units over the next decade.
Highlands Residential Services Executive Director Chris Cassetty said THDA shared that information during a meeting earlier this week. Cassetty said that THDA did not clarify how they came up with that number of units, but he believes they looked at Cookeville’s current need and projected population growth.
“So basically, they are saying we already have a need, and we are growing,” Cassetty said. “And I think most people around know both of those things. We have a need for affordable housing in Cookeville, and Putnam County, and the surrounding areas are certainly growing.”
Cassetty said only two cities in Tennessee need more affordable housing units than Cookeville: Nashville and Knoxville. Cassetty said he is not shocked that Cookeville has a bigger need than Memphis and Chattanooga.
“That was a little shocking, but by the same token, I see that every day,” Cassetty said. “We just reopened our waiting list. Our waiting list is not always open, and we just reopened them Tuesday of this week. As the staff was pulling into the parking lot at 7:15 Tuesday morning, there were already people lined up at the door. Which again just further shows. We had 18-20 people at a time in our lobby on Tuesday, just to get an appointment and just to get on the waiting list.”
Cassetty said building 3,000 affordable housing units in 10 years is realistically impossible due to funding. Cassetty said one of the positives of this is that the drastic need could help acquire funding for future developments.
“There are a lot of grants that are available,” Cassetty said. “They are based on need, and you have people who can do market studies that can again, kind of confirm the type of information and the kind of data that THDA has. But yes, absolutely. I think the more people that highlight that, the more that it helps us.”
Cassetty said right now it costs an estimated $230 to build a square foot. Cassetty said he does not even see 200 units being built per year to even reach an additional 2,000 affordable housing units by 2035.