Nashville is quietly celebrating a big birthday for one of its least flashy but hardest-working housing tools. The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency’s PILOT program turned 10 this year and has helped produce more than 11,000 affordable apartments across Davidson County. The initiative’s first major test was the 240-unit Paddock at Grandview, which broke ground in 2016 and showed the model could move projects forward in neighborhoods where deals had otherwise stalled. Residents and city leaders say the tax-relief tool has grown into one of Nashville’s primary levers for getting affordable rental projects built.
According to a PILOT report filed with Metro Council, 55 developments comprising 11,683 affordable units were placed in service and making PILOT payments as of tax year 2025, and those projects received about $14.6 million in property-tax abatement, MDHA reports. The agency’s filing lists projects across 20 council districts and lays out the PILOT terms and payment schedules for each property.
For tenants, the impact shows up in the monthly bill. Katrina Horton, a resident at the Paddock at Grandview, told NewsChannel 5 that without the development she feared she would still be “at home with my mama or...on the street,” and the report notes rents there are about $1,230 for a one-bedroom and $1,710 for a three-bedroom.
How the PILOT program works
The PILOT program provides up to 10 years of property-tax relief to developers awarded Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, freeing up financing that makes many affordable projects possible, MDHA says. MDHA’s materials also note that Metro Council approved an increase in the program’s annual abatement capacity in 2024, a change officials say allows the agency to support additional developments each year.
Where the program stands now
Nearly three-quarters of the apartments approved through the PILOT program are new construction rather than rehabilitation, and more than 50 properties across the city have paired Low-Income Housing Tax Credits with a PILOT to advance projects, NewsChannel 5 reported. The station also noted roughly 290 new affordable units were under construction in PILOT-supported developments as of June 2026, a sign local leaders say the pipeline is active even as demand remains high.
The Paddock at Grandview, the program’s first new-construction PILOT project, was authorized by Metro Council resolution RS2016-86 and is listed at 5515 Scruggs Lane. The council file shows MDHA was empowered to negotiate a PILOT for the 240-unit community, and Metro Council records include the resolution and project attachments.
Advocates and officials say the anniversary is worth celebrating, but not a finish line. Housing need continues to outpace supply, and MDHA, developers and city leaders say sustained funding, revised land-use approaches, and continued public-private partnerships will be needed to keep pace. As the PILOT enters its second decade, the agency says it will keep pushing projects through the pipeline while tracking affordability outcomes at individual properties.
