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As Nashville continues to be a popular destination for tourists and wealthy newcomers, locals from a variety of backgrounds say that skyrocketing housing prices have left them on the streets.
“Nashville only cares about tourists, country music and cowboy hats. It’s a dog and pony show. Forget those fancy apartments that are going up, I don’t stand a chance of getting any sort of apartment in this city right now,” Purple Heart recipient Patrick James told DailyMail.com.
The veteran, who claims to have lost his previous house in divorce, was one of multiple residents who spoke to the news outlet about how rising rent in America’s country music capital has left them unable to afford even the most basic housing.
“Nashville is now all about the money and real estate, but that money and real estate is making the rich richer and the poor poorer,” the veteran added, who said he served multiple tours in Iraq.
Even as massive incoming wealth is leading to new housing being built, locals are actually finding themselves homeless as they cant keep up with rising prices. (Left photo by William DeShazer/The Washington Post via Getty Images | Upper right photo The Washington Post / Contributor via Getty images | Lower right photo The Washington Post / Contributor via Getty Images)
NASHVILLE’S CHRONIC HOMELESSNESS PROBLEM RISES DRAMATICALLY, MOVES UP WITH COST OF LIVING.
One reason housing is so unaffordable for local residents is that the upfront costs can go far beyond a single month’s rent.
“You’ve got to make at least three times the amount of the rent to get approved,” James said. “That’s why I bought that old truck to live in and the car, so I could get to places.”
Robert Sutton, a former mechanic and fellow resident of the same tent city James lives in, said, “The money that’s coming into Nashville is doing nothing for people like me.”
James Weaver, another down-on-his-luck local, scraped together $1,200 to move into an apartment before the landlord allegedly raised the rent another $200. In addition, he was told the apartment would be shared with another resident.
“So it was going to be a shared room kind of situation, not even a place of my own. I’d paid the deposit, then the game changed,” Weaver told the DailyMail. “I later heard other people had similar experiences. Some of these landlords just find any excuse to jack up the rent. They wanted $200 more from me. That was impossible. I try to work with whatever construction jobs I can get, but at my age it’s tough.”
Nashville is enjoying a rapid rise in new residents, new tourists and new construction. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
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“If I’m unemployed, then I need a place to stay at that[‘s] for a person that’s unemployed,” Weaver added. “And if I’m working, I want something at that price that I can afford. But the words affordable housing in Nashville shouldn’t even be in the same sentence.”
Skyrocketing rent, he says, is the chief reason why so many locals suddenly found themselves homeless.
“I lost my apartment 18 months ago. Those apartments right there, they want $2,500. There’s no hope,” he said.
Video“It’s the rate of the rent of the rental properties here in Nashville that got me personally in the homeless situation,” Weaver said. “And as I talk to other fellow community members that are living on the streets, it’s their issue as well. The rental properties are just not affordable.”
Alexander Hall is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].
