NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — In Middle Tennessee it's hard to find a house that checks all the boxes and is in the price range.
The Beacon Center of Tennessee — a conservative think-tank in the state — is out with a new study that suggests the affordable housing crisis is due in part to local zoning regulations.
The report suggests denser neighborhoods would create more affordable housing options.
According to How Arbitrary Government Red Tape Raises Housing Costs by Limiting Supply, duplexes can't be built on roughly 59% of all land in Middle Tennessee. Multi-family housing options, like apartments, can't be built on 94% of the land.
Beacon Center policy and research director Ron Shultis attributes this to zoning codes. The Beacon Center says certain zoning restrictions add to the housing shortage in Nashville and the suburbs.
"So much of our city is zoned where you can only have one family on this lot, and it gets into the specifics of how far back from the street that house has to be and how back far from neighbors and how many parking spots that house has to have," said Ron Shultis.
Realtor Adam Myers says some small policy changes could make a big difference for his clients. He has experience representing builders and home-buyers.
"You're kind of minimizing what you can put on that property because you have to factor in that two-car parking or one spot per room," Adam Myers said.
Myers has been part of multiple projects where a single-family home has been replaced with two or more homes side-by-side.
"Being able to put two homes here we were able to reduce the price," he said about his listing on 18th Ave. North. "We could've renovated the home, but if we renovated the home it would've been in that $750,000 to $850,000 mark."
The Beacon Center study found Maury County had the fewest restrictions and allowed the most multi-family housing units. It allows those types of properties on nearly 96% of land. It also reported Brentwood, Forest Hills and Sumner County have essentially made it impossible to build multi-housing units.
Part of the report included the Tennessee Zoning Atlas, which allows you to see what's allowed per the zoning in your part of town.
