Vanderbilt University joins Mayor O’Connell and community partners to launch Nashville Catalyst Fund

Vanderbilt University has joined Mayor Freddie O'Connell, the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, First Horizon, the Metro Housing Division and other funding partners in launching the Nashville Catalyst Fund. This innovative initiative aims to address Nashville's affordable housing challenges through a new tool designed to create, preserve and develop more affordable housing options across the city.

"High housing costs are a serious concern for many Nashville residents including our students, faculty and staff," Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said. "As a university deeply rooted and invested in our community, we are proud to help provide one more innovative option for developing affordable housing in Nashville."

The Nashville Catalyst Fund was created to provide fast, flexible capital to mission-driven developers to enable them to move quickly in Nashville's competitive real estate landscape. As an institution committed to strengthening the Nashville community and with a track record for providing seed funding for important community projects, Vanderbilt was asked to contribute $5 million as a founding partner of the fund. With the $5 million from Vanderbilt, $20 million from Metro and a $50 million credit facility led by First Horizon Bank, the fund is launching with an initial $75 million and a goal to raise an additional $25 million.

"The Nashville Catalyst Fund is a public-private partnership that builds on our existing affordable housing tools, and we expect it will help preserve and create at least 3,000 affordable places to live in Nashville over the next 10 years," Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell said. "The fund will provide fast, flexible loans to help affordable housing partners preserve affordable rental homes that would otherwise be lost to the market and increase affordable housing production so more Nashvillians have dependable housing for themselves and their families for the long term."

The loans from the fund will support affordable housing developers working to preserve and develop income-restricted housing for 30 years and beyond, as well as bringing unregulated housing into income and rent regulations, which ensures the population in need is benefiting the most.

"We know that to meet the goals of the Affordable Housing Task Force we need to create 55,000 housing units by 2030," said Metro Housing Director Angie Hubbard. "While we have made progress toward that goal, a true public-private partnership and tool like the Nashville Catalyst Fund ensures more swift execution of transactions so mission-driven developers can move quickly on projects to serve Nashvillians in need."

"Nashville needs an all hands on deck approach to solving our affordable housing shortage," said Hal Cato, chief executive officer of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. "The Nashville Catalyst Fund represents a new level of collaboration between philanthropy, business and government toward a future where everyone in Nashville can have a place that they call home."

Metro's initial investment of $20 million comes from American Rescue Plan Act funds, and after a competitive procurement process, Metro partnered with Forsyth Street Asset Management and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to set up the structure and find investors for the Nashville Catalyst Fund.

Built on national best practices, the fund offers loan products to mission-driven developers that are not available anywhere else in the market, including acquisition loans, pre-development loans and bridge loans. These loan products are designed to include and support nonprofit and emerging BIPOC developers within the affordable housing sector and aid in jumpstarting these projects without the developer waiting to receive public subsidy or grant proceeds.

"First Horizon believes investing time and resources in the communities in which we operate leads to success for all," said Carol Yochem, First Horizon Bank region president. "We are proud to be the lead bank providing capital to the catalyst fund. Affordable housing is imperative for the continued growth of our community, and we are thrilled to be a partner in this initiative."

The fund's day-to-day management will be handled by Forsyth Street Asset Management in collaboration with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and Pillars Development, with additional support from Nelson Community Partners. An investment committee, led by Jim Gingrich, will serve as the governing body for the lending decisions of the fund.

The initial $75 million investment can facilitate the creation or preservation of 3,000 or more units over the next decade. Because of the sustainable nature of the fund, this initial investment will be recycled to more than $300 million in investment over the next decade. The fund seeks an additional $25 million to support this work through ongoing fundraising.

To learn more about the Nashville Catalyst Fund, visit nashvillecatalyst.org.

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