February 4, 2025-The City of Memphis and Shelby County Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) has made 82 scattered lots available for the construction of new, essential home construction. A Request For Interest (RFI) for the Essential Housing Program has been released for developers and builders to execute innovative, well-designed, “essential housing” (low-income housing, affordable housing, missing middle housing, workforce housing, transitional housing) in Binghampton and Uptown. A majority of the 78 lots in the Uptown District are located in the North Memphis neighborhoods of Smokey City, Scutterfield, and New Chicago. The other four lots are located in the eastern half of the Binghampton neighborhood.

According to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the City of Memphis is short nearly 45,000 housing units for residents who qualify as “extremely low-income.” Infill housing in neighborhoods will help meet the need.

With a high demand and increasing material costs, building affordable homes is more difficult than ever. The CRA can provide meaningful gap funding to mitigate these challenges. Convergence Memphis also has predevelopment forgivable grant funds for this effort. The upcoming Convergence Land Expo on February 22^nd at First Baptist Broad Avenue will highlight buildable lots and funding opportunities.

The CRA views this housing program as a vehicle to build capacity and support small, emerging, and minority-owned developers and builders. While some experience in home-building, development, and/or architectural design and site planning is desired, the CRA will consider interested parties with varying levels of experience.

“Memphis faces a serious shortage of quality, affordable housing, and the CRA is excited to offer these properties for new housing development,” CRA Director of Planning and Community Development Vivian Ekstrom said. “With support from the CRA and Convergence Memphis, this essential housing program will address blight and vacancy, deliver new housing options, and provide opportunities for local developers to gain experience in constructing affordable housing. We look forward to working with partners in the development and housing fields to benefit these neighborhoods and the city as a whole.”

Developers interested in learning more about the Essential Housing Program can view maps, browse parcel data, and complete the interest form at: https://cramemphis.org/memphis-essential-housing.

About the CRA: www.cramemphis.org

The CRA was established to be a catalyst for the restoration of communities through removing blight and providing affordable housing. The CRA serves as a joint agency of Shelby County and the City of Memphis and was set up as an organization in 2017. Our community-based approach to the redevelopment of neighborhoods needing reinvestment relies on Tax Increment Financing (TIF) as an important and strategic tool for implementing the goals of the agency. We envision every neighborhood in the City of Memphis and Shelby County providing its residents with a healthy and safe environment, economic opportunity, affordable housing, and excellent quality of life. 

About Convergence Memphis: https://convergencememphis.org/

In 2019, the Mortgage Bankers Association launched CONVERGENCE,® a collective impact initiative uniting local and national partners from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. The initiative addresses information, trust, market, and resource gaps that hinder Black, Hispanic, and other underserved consumers from achieving homeownership. By enhancing existing services and piloting innovative, community-driven solutions, CONVERGENCE strives to expand access to homeownership opportunities.

The initiative operates in three cities: Memphis, TN; Columbus, OH; and Philadelphia, PA — where a local nonprofit organization, aligned with CONVERGENCE’s mission, serves as the host. These organizations foster collaboration among stakeholders across the housing ecosystem to tackle their community’s unique housing challenges.