Affordable Housing PILOT Program

The Affordable Housing Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILOT) is a tax incentive program to encourage mixed-income and affordable multi-unit rental development in Chattanooga. To be eligible, projects must provide rents affordable to households with incomes at or below 50 - 80% Area Median Income (AMI) for the Chattanooga, TN-GA MSA. Program guidelines require that committed affordable units are maintained for a period of at least 15 years. In exchange, for the duration of the 15 year PILOT term, program participants receive an abatement of property taxes tied to affordable housing units provided and the project zip code.

During the PILOT term, the title to the property is transferred to the Health, Educational and Housing Facility Board of the City of Chattanooga (HEB), and the developer makes payments in lieu of property taxes instead of the full property tax bill. During this time, the projects will be monitored by HCI for compliance with affordability requirements and other program guidelines.

Interested parties can use the “PILOT calculator” in the program materials below to estimate the amount of abatement their project could be eligible for. Applications are received and reviewed on a rolling basis according to the process outlined below.

PROGRAM MATERIALS

PILOT Calculator (download as an Excel spreadsheet)
2024 PILOT Rents and Income Limits
Affordable Housing PILOT Program Guidelines
Sample PILOT Agreement – Coming Soon
PILOT Public Meeting Presentation

APPLICATION MATERIALS

PILOT Application Cover Page
PILOT Application Worksheet

Complete PILOT applications should be submitted through this online form. A complete application must include three components:
Application Cover Page with the appropriate signatures (PDF)
Application Worksheet (Excel)
Supporting Documents (PDF)

Applicants should expect about 3 months for PILOT review and consideration, once a complete application has been received.