Tennessee’s Housing Crisis: Making Homes Work for Everyone

In Tennessee, finding a safe, affordable home is hard for many people. It’s especially hard for people with disabilities and older adults who often live on fixed incomes like Social Security Supplemental Income (SSI). One in four adults with disabilities in Tennessee lives in poverty.

A typical one-bedroom apartment in Tennessee costs an average of $1,362 per month. The most someone can receive from SSI is $967 per month. This means many people cannot afford stable housing without help.

Why Housing Matters

Housing is a crisis statewide, especially for people with disabilities and older adults. That’s why housing is a top priority for the Tennessee Department of Disability and Aging (DDA).

DDA works on this problem by focusing on:

• Talking with people and families about what independent housing can look like for them
• Helping people find compatible roommates to share housing with
• Connecting people to affordable housing resources and benefit programs, and
• Teaching housing developers about accessible design and working to increase the amount of housing available to people with disabilities and older adults.

In 2024, DDA created the Housing Innovation Program. This program helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and older adults find safe, affordable, accessible homes. It also supports people by guiding them through resources and coordinating with providers and state agencies.

In January 2025, DDA partnered with The Kelsey, a nationally respected leader in what’s called “disability-forward housing.” The Kelsey builds affordable housing, advocates for inclusion, and consults with organizations and states across the country.

What is disability-forward housing?

Instead of adding accessibility at the end, disability-forward housing starts with access and inclusion. Disability-forward housing starts with asking, “How do we make this work for everyone from day one?”

The Kelsey’s approach has three important parts:

• Affordable - rent that people with low incomes can actually pay
• Accessible - designed so people with different disabilities can navigate their homes and neighborhood safely and easily
• Inclusive - mixed communities where people with and without disabilities live side by side

Disability-forward housing benefits everyone. It serves people with IDD, physical and sensory disabilities, mental health conditions, and people aging into disability. It combines accessible design, service coordination, supports, affordability, and inclusive practices so people can live where they choose with the supports they need.

The Kelsey produced a report about what they learned through their work for the Department of Disability and Aging. You can read the full report here.

What did The Kelsey and DDA do?

Instead of guessing what people need, DDA and The Kelsey did something simple, but very important: they asked Tennesseans directly. Over several months, they talked to more than 325 people across the state. They used surveys, listening sessions, interviews, and roundtables across urban and rural areas.

They sat down with:

• Family caregivers
• People with disabilities
• Housing developers
• Older adults
• Service providers
• State agency leaders

Three basic questions guided every conversation:

• What does home mean to you?
• What’s getting in the way?
• What would help?

People with mobility disabilities (many who use wheelchairs, walkers, or scooters) made up the largest group of people who answered.

What They Heard:

Discrimination still happens. Some families reported discrimination from landlords or a lack of understanding about disability needs. People often had to educate landlords themselves.

“Accessible” housing often isn’t.

People shared stories of apartments that were supposed to work for them but had steps at the entrance, doorways too narrow for wheelchairs, or bathrooms that were hard to use safely.

All groups DDA and The Kelsey spoke to agreed that ”accessibility” isn’t very well defined. Developers said they are confused about accessibility standards and often treat these features as expensive add-ons rather than building them in from the start.

Transportation was a near-universal barrier.

People need ways to get around their communities. This issue is even harder in rural Tennessee, where accessible, affordable housing is already rare.

"Finding a home that was affordable for me would have been out in the country, but there’s no transportation,” one rural resident explained.  Without good public transportation, people become trapped in their homes. Even if they find housing they can afford, they can’t get to work, grocery stores, or medical appointments.

The system is confusing, slow, and online forms can be a barrier.

Systems are hard to navigate. Waitlists can last years. Some fear losing benefits if they work or report changes.

“Navigating housing and services is so complicated,” shared one person. “You might qualify but the waitlists are years long, and if you can’t get online to fill out forms, you’re stuck.”

Fixed incomes don’t match housing costs.

Even with a voucher, rents are often unaffordable for people on SSI or SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance). Even “affordable” units are out of reach for many on SSI or SSDI.

Many older adults want to stay in their current homes but need help with repairs.

Simple changes like adding ramps, grab bars, or wider doorways can make a huge difference. These fixes cost much less than building new apartments.  Providers reported high demand for home repairs but have limited funding and ability to meet the need.

Some people even face homelessness. A few participants said they have no home or move between unsafe living situations.

What People Really Want

People want independence, choice, and connection. They want to live in regular neighborhoods alongside people of all ages and abilities. They want to age in their own homes with support when needed. They don’t want to be forced into nursing homes or group facilities when they could live independently with the right housing and services.

What State Leaders Said

State leaders said many programs list disabled people and older adults as “priorities,” but they often don’t directly serve them. Strict rules keep out many people. Leaders said that tens of thousands need housing help but can’t get it. Agencies struggle to work together. No single agency leads inclusive housing, so conversations often start and stall.

What Older Adult Providers Said

Providers said older adults overwhelmingly want to age in place, staying in the homes and neighborhoods they know. They face big obstacles: many homes need critical repairs or accessibility updates, and demand for these fixes far exceeds available funding.

Groups running repair programs said their waitlists are long and their tools, supplies, and staffing are stretched thin, so they can’t meet the need. Many older adults want to downsize, but they can’t find small, affordable, and accessible homes.

Most new housing is multi-story or high-end, leaving very few options Families are also asking for multi-family housing, but most programs don’t support households with multiple generations under one roof.

DDA’s partnership with The Kelsey has already created concrete results. The Kelsey created a comprehensive Tennessee Stakeholder Engagement Summary Report and held both in-person and virtual community sessions to share findings and gather more input.

They’ve also developed suggestions for Tennessee’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program, which could help create more accessible and affordable housing across the state.

Key recommendations include:

• Build and preserve homes that people living on SSI/SSDI can afford and require universal design in every new project. Include disabled people in planning from day one so designs work in real life. Create a statewide program that fixes older homes and makes them accessible so people can stay in their current homes.
• Start with accessible design from day one. This costs less than adding it later and helps everyone live in the same neighborhoods.
• Put new housing near jobs, groceries, clinics, and transit and expand transportation routes to major employment and health sites.
• Create housing teams so agencies can work together with clear goals and timelines. Update rules to allow new options like home-sharing and semi-independent living. Improve computer systems so the state can track what works and fix problems.
• Create flexible funds for deposits, moving costs, and accessibility.
• Give grants to start good housing projects. Make it easier to build inclusive housing by helping builders with permits, making funding applications simpler, and giving free training to builders and planners about accessible design.

A Call for Collaboration

This work is ongoing, and DDA is just at the beginning of developing their housing program. They cannot do the work alone. DDA encourages anyone interested to share resources, suggestions, or creative ideas. Whether you are a person with a disability, family member, service provider, housing developer, or just someone interested in the housing crisis, they want you to reach out to them.

Looking Forward

DDA’s approach is a change in how the state addresses disability housing. Instead of creating programs alone, DDA is partnering to build solutions based on what disabled people and older adults need.

DDA believes that everyone deserves a safe, affordable, accessible, and inclusive home. They plan to partner with people and families, organizations, service providers, housing developers, and other state agencies to make disability-forward housing a reality.

As one person said: “We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking for the same opportunities everyone else has - to live independently, to be part of our communities, and to have dignity.”

Tennessee is listening. Now comes the hard work of turning those voices into action.

Get Involved

If you’re interested in contributing to Tennessee’s housing innovation efforts, contact:

Allison Moore, Director of Housing Innovation: Allison.Moore@tn.gov

Special thanks to Allison Moore for providing the majority of this article content. Allison is the Director of Housing Innovation at the Tennessee Department of Disability and Aging. She has ten years of experience in public and social services, including work with federal housing grant programs and nonprofit organizations serving people experiencing homelessness. She is passionate about finding creative, practical solutions to the housing crisis.

Jeremy Norden-Paul, Director of Program Innovation: Jeremy.Norden-Paul@tn.gov

Dr. Erin Garcia, Middle Tennessee Community Housing Navigator: Erin.Garcia@tn.gov

Learn more about The Kelsey

Read the stories of people living in communities developed by The Kelsey