Saltbox living room.

Eddie Latimer, CEO of Affordable Housing Resources, is partnering with Berkshire Hathaway’s Clayton Homes to create a “micro-village” of thirteen tiny homes in North Nashville.

Each of the homes is set to rent at about $1,000 a month, about $200 less than the average efficiency apartment and $545 less than the current median studio apartment rent in downtown Nashville. Each 450-square-foot unit will feature tall windows, hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, and granite countertops.

Latimer is working on plans to create micro-home communities on a large scale to address the city’s growing shortage of affordable housing, spurred by rising land prices.

Nashville's development boom has caused home prices to nearly double in the past six years, when the average home price jumped from $140,000 to $260,000.

Meanwhile, low-income residents have been pushed farther from the city's core in search of a fast-dwindling supply of affordable housing.

Luxury micro-homes aren't a solution to the affordable housing crisis for very low-income residents, but they could deliver more options in the workforce housing market.

At about $130,000 each, they could also make home ownership a reality for many people who can't afford one now, Latimer said. 

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