Meet Matt Wiltshire. He's running for Nashville mayor.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Haven't had a chance to talk or meet Matt Wiltshire?

He is one of more than a dozen people running for Nashville mayor.

Wiltshire previously worked for the Metro Development Housing Agency. He said he cared about public infrastructure and affordable housing in his mayoral bid.

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.

Nashville’s violent crime rate outpaces the national average as well as that of similar-sized cities. As mayor, how would you work with MNPD to ensure Nashvillians can feel safe in our city?

Nashville doesn’t feel as safe as it did when I was growing up here. We must work urgently to lower crime both by increasing investments in public safety and by working to address the underlying causes of crime.

Over the last several years police response times — to both nonemergency and emergency calls — have risen to unacceptable levels. The first thing we need to do is fully staff our police department. As mayor, I’ll also work with MNPD to emphasize getting illegal guns off the streets. We can work more closely with state and federal partners, such as ATF, to accomplish this. I also will further expand the Partners in Care program to utilize mental health professionals to respond to public safety calls and de-escalate situations.

We also will invest in addressing the root causes of violence in our community. Those investments will include Increased mental health resources and youth employment programs.

Finally, I’ll use my bully pulpit and the office of the Mayor to raise awareness around this issue and urge federal and state leaders to take action.

We’ve seen multiple neighborhoods grapple with the proliferation of homeless encampments that pose threats to public safety and sanitation. How would you balance compassionate treatment of the unhoused with the desire of citizens to live in clean, safe neighborhoods?

Nashville’s affordable housing crisis has greatly contributed to the challenges we face in housing insecurity and homelessness. I’ve outlined specific strategies I will employ as Mayor to arrest the growth in the cost of housing. Additionally, we need to be doing a better job providing wrap-around services to folks experiencing acute housing insecurity, including: mental health support, addiction and recovery services, and employment assistance.

With all of that said, we cannot allow our parks or sidewalks to be taken over and degrade Nashville’s quality of life. After we provide adequate supportive options, we must hold accountable the folks who refuse that help.

Metro Nashville government has been involved in a series of spats with the Republican-controlled state legislature that could have far-reaching effects on how the city functions. How will you work with the state legislature and preserve the will of Metro Nashville’s voters?

The relationship right now is fundamentally broken and the next Mayor has got to fix it. I have a proven track record of building constructive relationships across the political aisle and across levels of government, and I already have invested in repairing our broken relationship with the state. Now, don’t get me wrong – there are a few things the legislature has done that have absolutely enraged me. But, nobody is going to be better off if we throw up our hands and don’t talk to one another.

When I served as director of ECD and when I worked at the Housing Authority I worked closely with counterparts at state ECD and State Housing Authority — those folks were often times from a different political party than me, but we found common ground that was rooted in a relationship and a baseline of trust. I’ll take a similar approach as Mayor.

Now, I want to be very clear. Building a relationship does not mean we won’t disagree. In fact — I believe when we build a relationship we can stand up for our principles even more strongly. And if the legislature continues to attack Nashville or Nashvillians in future sessions, I’m going to be the first to push back.

For the first time ever in Vanderbilt’s annual poll, a majority of Nashvillians said our city is moving in the wrong direction. How do you think we can get Nashville on the right track?

I believe Nashville is a city of virtually unlimited potential, but right now it’s not working well for the people who live here. When I looked around the city a year ago I saw the big challenges of affordable housing, traffic and transit, underperforming public schools. But I also saw the everyday challenges we were facing — trash wasn’t getting picked up on time and potholes were not being filled. I believe we need to get back to the basics and show people we can make the government work well.

With the right vision and focused leadership, Nashville should have the best public schools in America, be the safest major city in the country, and be an affordable place to live and raise a family.

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

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.

A Nashville mayor hasn’t discussed rapid-area transit in earnest since Mayor Barry’s plan was rejected by voters. What are your thoughts on what the city needs for public transit?

Anyone who has traveled around Nashville knows this system is completely broken. Every hour a mom or a dad spends sitting behind the wheel coming home from work is an hour they’re not spending at home with their kids or doing something they enjoy. We’ve got to do better.

I have a plan that I will put into motion in my first week in office and I want folks to hold me accountable to that. I believe our first investment into mass transit needs to be gold-standard rapid transit between the airport and downtown along Murfreesboro Pike. This will accomplish a few things. First, it will pull cars off the interstate. Second, by building affordable housing at transit stops, we can create the opportunity for folks who work downtown or at the airport to go to work without having to pay $40 or $50 a day to park. This project also will help Nashville build a culture of mass transit that will lead to more investments in the future. Here’s the best part — the federal government and the Airport Authority likely will pay for a large portion of the cost of this project.

We also need to get back to the basics on a few things. We need to invest in our infrastructure and fill the potholes. And we need to increase the frequency of some routes to make the bus system and invest in the physical infrastructure, such as sheltered bus stops, to make transit a more viable option for more families.

Just under 30 percent of Nashville’s third graders are reading at grade level. Nashville has trailed significantly in education gains compared to other Middle Tennessee counties. What can a mayor do for education?

I went to Nashville public schools. My wife, Crissy, and I have six kids between us. Each one of those kids has attended Metro Nashville Public Schools, other than Maria, who is five, and will start at MNPS in August.

I believe Nashville should have the best public school system in America and ensure that every family, EVERY family, has an incredible public school in their neighborhood. I believe it’s possible, but that’s not where we are today.

Today, we’re asking our teachers to solve a large number of challenges that many students are bringing with them into the classroom, such as homelessness, food insecurity, and domestic violence. Our city needs to do a better job of providing students and teachers with the supportive services and resources to tackle these challenges. I believe that when we do, our teachers will be able to focus better on teaching in the classrooms, our students will be able to concentrate on learning, and our schools will thrive.

There is a perception that downtown is more of a priority because of the revenue it generates. What policies do you propose that will serve all neighborhoods?

Downtown is an important economic engine for our city and our state. The area makes up less than half of one percent of the acreage of the county, but generates approximately 12% of the property taxes and more than 25% of the sales and use taxes in Nashville.

There was a time when attracting large employers and big events was a top priority for the city. That was responsive to high unemployment and a not yet thriving tourism economy. Today, our priorities must be investing in our neighborhoods and our people.

As Mayor, I’m committed to making Nashville the safest big city in the country, turning MNPS into the best public education system in America, and improving the quality of life and livability of Nashville by investing in affordable housing and transit.

Nashville has faced the following in the last three years: the pandemic, a tornado, a bombing, and a mass shooting. What makes you qualified to handle these levels of crises?

For eight years, serving under three different Mayors, I served in an executive leadership position in local government. I’ve been in the room and counseled Mayors of our city through many high-impact decisions. Following my time in the Mayor’s Office, I continued my service as an executive at MDHA.

Nashville city government is incredibly complex. The voters are looking to hire the CEO of a $3.3 billion organization with over 17,000 employees working in more than 50 different departments. I have executive-level experience in this organization that prepares me to respond to any crises that occur.

Come July 1, Nashville’s Community Oversight Board, as we know it, will cease operating. How will you ensure that Nashville gets the same level of community oversight that voters overwhelmingly approved?

I believe that public trust in public and private entities has eroded over the past several decades. And I believe that transparency and accountability strengthen an organization and its members. The Metro Nashville Police Department has exceptional leadership and the vast majority of its officers and staff demonstrate the highest professionalism.

Any organization with more than 2,200 employees and hundreds of thousands of citizen interactions each year is going to have issues at times. Having a robust and equally professional Community Oversight Board will help to increase public trust in MNPD and the city as a whole.

I will work with the leadership of the MNPD and the Fraternal Order of Police to establish a Community Oversight Board, its authority, responsibilities, staffing and composition. I believe that I have the experience, perspective and disposition to be able to bring the parties together and hold them accountable in the establishment of a well-functioning Community Oversight Board.