Saundra Amrhein – Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Amid skyrocketing rents and surging calls for help, local housing advocates are pursuing an innovative Nashville model for increasing housing access that could potentially assist thousands of local families facing homelessness.

The Nashville project, titled Low Barrier Housing Collective, is a collaboration between social service agencies and private property owners who receive incentives in exchange for lowering or removing rental obstacles that often confront low-income individuals and working families.

In operation since last fall, the collective sprang from a housing crisis similar to that facing Sarasota and Manatee counties, with Nashville rents spiking between 30% and 50% and renters often given less than 60-day notices to leave their homes, said Lizzie Goddard, architect of Nashville’s model.