Former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell may return to Metro affairs as affordable housing advisor

The Tennessean

Former Mayor Bill Purcell arrives for the swearing-in of David Briley as Nashville mayor Tuesday, March 6, 2018 p.m. in the David Scobey Council Chamber at the Metropolitan Courthouse after the resignation of Megan Barry earlier in the day.

Former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell has been tapped to join the seven-member Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency's Board of Commissioners.

The housing authority board oversees the redevelopment of former public housing, design of new building in redevelopment districts, and the creation of new subsidized homes.

Purcell would replace Charles Robert Bone, the board's chair who was appointed by former Mayor Megan Barry in 2016, if Metro Council approves the recommendation from Mayor John Cooper.

"Bill has long been a champion for real affordable housing solutions in Nashville," Cooper said. "I’m confident in Bill’s leadership, and he has the experience to bring much-needed reforms to MDHA."

Purcell, who served as Metro Nashville's fifth mayor from 1999 to 2007, advised Barry on affordable housing matters in 2018.

He championed neighborhood-focused policies as mayor, which Cooper has also promised to do.

In September, Cooper recommended Paulette Coleman to replace retired Southwestern/Great American CEO Ralph Mosley on the board. Coleman is the founding chair of Nashville Organized for Action and Hope’s affordable housing task force.

"In a time of urgent affordable housing needs in our city, MDHA needs to refocus on the housing part of its mission, rather than the development aspects of it," Cooper said. "This appointment is an important step toward ensuring that affordable housing is at the center of everything we do in Nashville."

Purcell is a founding partner of Purcell, White & Lassiter law firm and an adjunct public policy professor at Vanderbilt University.

He served five terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives before becoming mayor and has since served as the director of the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Bone cheered Purcell's nomination, in a statement on Monday.

"During my time on the board, I have witnessed first-hand the diligent efforts of this organization and its leadership to reimagine how public housing is delivered in this city, to work to de-concentrate poverty, to increase transparency and to instill confidence in the accessibility and accountability in the TIF process," Bone said. "MDHA will be the beneficiary of Mayor Purcell’s deep experience and thoughtfulness on these issues."