For some, Nashville is hard to afford. These mayoral candidates think they have the solution.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The average cost of buying a house in Nashville is just now under $450,000, according to real estate data released from May to Redfin.

While that is down 5% from last year, those trying to afford a place in the city still find that figure unattainable.

We asked mayoral candidates what they think they could do to help.

NewsChannel 5 sent every person running for mayor a questionnaire with the same questions. We have not edited these answers from the candidates, meaning these responses are straight from them.

As Nashville has grown, so has the cost of living. What strategies would you employ to make our city affordable for working families?

Natisha Brooks

Teachers, Police, First Responders, Seniors And The Disabled - As Mayor will work diligently with developers to build Affordable/Income Based and in compliance housing for those that serve, protect and need our assistance. Also, want to work with Developers to have affordable/income based housing for Special Needs and those that are on the Spectrum to have housing in Davidson County. Finally, Property taxes return to the pre Covid assessments for property owners. Two Council Members who are currently seeking office of Nashville Mayor should have VOTED no on the measure to increase property taxes but voted “YES” During the most difficult times in our County’s History.

Fran Bush

I would encourage the development of affordable housing units. This can include offering incentives to developers, implementing inclusionary zoning policies, and establishing affordable housing trust funds. Explore innovative housing models such as community land trusts to preserve affordable housing options. implementing rent stabilization measures to protect tenants from significant rent increases. This can help provide stability for working families and prevent displacement due to skyrocketing.

Encourage the development of mixed-income housing projects that combine affordable units with market-rate housing. This approach promotes socioeconomic diversity and ensures that affordable housing is integrated into different neighborhoods.

Work to expand access to affordable childcare options for working families. This can include partnering with community organizations, investing in childcare subsidies, and exploring innovative models such as cooperative childcare initiatives. I would work towards creating a more affordable city where working families can thrive economically and have access to affordable housing, quality education, transportation, and essential services. It requires a multi-faceted approach that involves collaboration between government, businesses, community organizations, and residents to address the complex challenges of affordability.

Heidi Campbell

Addressing Nashville’s affordability crisis will require a multi-faceted approach. Building more affordable housing through lease agreements and the expansion of public-private partnerships is a frequently talked about solution, but there are others we must also pursue. One of those is childcare. In Tennessee, the average childcare worker makes less than a parking attendant–this pay disparity has exacerbated a lack of qualified employees and forced many parents to quit their jobs to take care of their kids. Estimates suggest that this crisis costs Davidson County 276 million dollars every single year. As mayor, I will promote a living wage for childcare workers, work with MNPS to expand training and certification opportunities in high schools, and partner with childcare providers to streamline the school-to-workforce pathway.

Bernie Cox

This question will get many answers to convince voters that they have the best answer, projecting hypotheticals to entice voters of space-aged solutions. Fact is, this is a national problem. My answer is simple.

Get government out of the way and allow capitalism to perform as opposed to tax and spend mentality.

Jim Gingrich

We’ve done multiple affordable housing studies. Each one tells us the problem is worse than the last time we studied it. Today, those that serve our city – teachers, first responders, Metro workers – can no longer afford to live in the city they serve.

Our leadership can no longer afford to kick the can. The magnitude of the challenge is now measured in tens of thousands of units needed and billions of dollars to make it happen.

That's why we need leadership that will work for the people, instead of for out of town developers, to address the affordable housing crisis. And it starts with three things:

• Properly invest in the Barnes fund, turbocharging the efforts of the non-profit community
• Make use of the land the city owns that is ripe for affordable housing development
• Harness the power of the private sector to make the multi-billion dollar investments in housing. Nashville should not be among the most difficult cities in which to construct affordable housing, but today we are.

Sharon Hurt

There are so many buildings and lots that are sitting vacant in Nashville. If Habitat for Humanity can build a house in a day, why can’t we get a few dozen crews together and build on these lots? There are literally acres of empty government-owned land in the Bordeaux area that we can zone for affordable and attainable housing and build on.

I will work with developers to streamline the building permit process and provide tax incentives to make sure these units get built. We also need to develop workforce housing for our teachers, firefighters and other public servants so they can afford to live in the communities where they work. These kinds of hard-working legacy residents have made Nashville the ‘It’ city it is today and we must ensure they can afford to stay in Nashville.

Freddie O'Connell

I had to walk away from a professional opportunity because we didn’t know the secret handshake to get into the aftercare program at our daughter’s public elementary school. So we fought to get a second aftercare program set up. Which was great. Until the program also had a waitlist. It’s imperative that working families be able to choose our public schools in order to keep their household costs down.

Transit is affordable housing. More families deserve the option that our family had to reduce the number of cars we owned, fueled, maintained, and ensured as a pathway to homeownership.

I’ll move the housing division in our Planning department to the status of a full Office of Housing, giving a department head of one of our city’s most urgent need better ability to coordinate across departments. And we’ll follow the recommendations of our Affordable Housing Task Force report.

We’ll also increase awareness of important programs like the Financial Empowerment Center, which just celebrated 10 years and offers free financial counseling, which has helped Nashvillians eliminate millions of dollars of debt and increase savings by the millions.

Alice Rolli

First, Alice Rolli is the only candidate who has pledged not to raise taxes. Davidson County residents are the most taxed of any city in the state. The downtown crowd will talk about how low your tax rate is — but that’s not the same as the percent of your income you pay as a resident in taxes — that makes us the highest taxed residents in the state, and it is why working families are moving out of the county to find relief from high taxes and live in counties where services like schools and public safety are fully functioning. Government has to get back to the basics and live within our means.

We have to get our schools on track — right now nearly 80% of our graduates are not graduating prepared for career, college, or military. That means our kids are not able to compete for the maximum-wage jobs coming to our city. To make the city more affordable means we’ve also got to be sure our neighborhoods are safe - which means increasing accountability for criminals so that our most affordable neighborhoods remain safe from crime. To make the city more affordable means we need to continue to support bus routes that people are actually using - so that we can help reduce the costs of commuting for working families. Above all, we need to provide value for the dollars that our citizens are paying to deliver the basic services of government - and to get away from using City Hall as a backdrop for picking National Political fights.

Matt Wiltshire

Nashville has gotten far, far too expensive for most folks to be able to live and raise a family. That’s why in 2019 I helped craft an ambitious affordable housing plan and left the Mayor’s Office to join the city’s housing authority to work on making Nashville a more affordable place to live. We made some real progress – in three short years we helped create more than 4,000 units of housing that Nashvillians can actually afford. But there is a LOT of work left to do. We need to add housing units across the price spectrum and there are different tools to accomplish that goal at different price points.

First, we need to increase our investments into the Barnes Housing Fund. Second, we should continue to expand the Envision plan at MDHA, which is transforming public housing sites from areas of concentrated poverty into thriving mixed-income neighborhoods - without displacing current residents. We need to expand public-private partnerships like the Housing Resiliency Fund at The Housing Fund, which helps working-class homeowners avoid getting priced out of the city by rising property taxes. We should invest more in home weatherization efforts to help low-income seniors reduce energy costs and stay in their homes. We also need to work closely with the private sector to simply increase the total supply of housing that is being built — particularly affordable housing units.

Finally, we have a web of programs — both at the city, like the senior property tax freeze, and in the non-profit sector that help folks who’re struggling to stay in their home. We will add housing navigators who will help folks, especially our seniors, take advantage of the support available to them.

Vivian Wilhoite

As Mayor, I want us to have both strong businesses and strong neighborhoods. When we have strong businesses, we will have more high-paying jobs in our city. One of the pathways towards affordability is a job that pays more. I believe the city must set the example here and invest in our workers. We must give pay raises to all our city workers. We will work to establish workforce affordable housing through public and private partnerships utilizing vacant land and buildings and schools owned by metro government.

Jeff Yarbro

Nashville can’t be a great city if it’s not a great place to live. Finding a home you can afford in a safe neighborhood you love near schools you trust shouldn’t feel like winning the lottery. There’s no silver bullet municipal ordinance that ensures affordability and livability. However, as Mayor, I will support efforts to incentivize developers to create affordable housing units and work with relevant stakeholders to assess our zoning processes to ensure we have the resources to keep up with demand while keeping costs low.

I’ll orient the Metro government around improving the day-by-day provision of city services and block-by-block investments in neighborhood communities where people live their lives. While it’s essential for every city to continue to grow, we must ensure Nashville stays a good place for our kids to grow up and a safe, affordable community where everyone can reach their full potential.