KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Fewer people in Knoxville can afford to live in the city. Rent prices have skyrocketed, outpacing the national rate of rising rents by several times. Experts of the East Tennessee housing market also said they expected prices to continue rising.
One member of the crowd was Hannah Freeman — a ninth-generation Knoxvillian and graduate from the University of Tennessee. She works full-time and has side hustles to make ends meet. She spent her 27th birthday speaking before the city council.
"The most surprising change is market value," she said. "In the last five years, it has doubled."
Freeman makes around $34,000 per year, or around $18 per hour. According to data from the Pew Research Center, that would place her in Knoxville's middle class as long as she is the only member of her household. Yet, she says she still can't afford to save money and the prospect of owning a home is becoming increasingly unrealistic, paying bill after bill on top of rising rent.
"It's sad because I thought I would own a house by now, but renting and saving is nearly impossible," she said. "You have your transportation, groceries, your utilities, your internet, your phone bills, and me myself, I have student loans. That's just the basics."
She stood alongside other renters during Knoxville City Council's meeting, who wore black shirts with slogans against rising rent, such as "houses for need, not greed," and held signs calling for action to stop rising rent.
"We've been up here talking to y'all a little over a month now about the need that we've seen here. Rent's at an all-time high here in Knoxville. We can't keep up with it, just frankly ... Doubling someone's rent is crippling. This morning, I was just at an eviction case for one of many neighbors. When we said a month ago that we were going to see evictions, we're seeing them," said one person.
That person also spoke against protests leading up to a development at Choto Landing that would have provided around 50 affordable housing units. Developers pulled that project following the protests.
"What we wanted to do is show up here to show that there are also people who are in support of affordable housing," she said. "And all we're asking for at this point is fair negotiation with our property management company."
That speaker said her rent rose $515 recently.
Speakers also said they were forming "Knoxville's first renters and tenant's union." They said it was named the "Knox Area Tenant's Union" and would advocate for affordable housing. They said it has already provided supplemental food and supported tenants in eviction court, as well as provided translation services while reviewing leases.
"We are asking for this council to support us in our unified voices. We are asking for this council to keep affordable housing for all Knoxville's citizens. We are asking this council to consider things like eminent domain, elimination of miscellaneous fees such as admin fees, application fees, insurance compliance fees and anything else that landlords can use to penny-pinch us," said a speaker. "We ask that you all keep affordable housing in the forefront of your mind."
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon said the city is looking for solutions. City Council members recently considered proposals meant to increase "missing middle" housing, which would focus on creating multiple units like duplexes and townhomes.
"We want to increase the diversity of housing, so we have a lot of multi-family and then we have single-family detached. And, middle housing is supposed to address that middle," said Kincannon. "The private sector is who builds housing, and we need them to build more affordable housing in Knoxville and more missing middle housing. So, middle housing is just one small part of our solution to our housing crisis."
Meanwhile, fewer people in Knoxville can afford to buy a house, or even rent a home.
"It's a black-and-white issue, that's why we're in black-and-white," said a speaker.