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Tennessee Voluntary Attainable Housing Incentive Programs — IZ Ban Carve-Out (TN)

Tracked preemption from the Tennessee overlay bundle.

Overview

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Effective
2024-07-01
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:TN
Other Tennessee preemptions
Tennessee State Building Code — 2021 I-Codes via State Fire Marshal SBCOTennessee Short Term Rental Unit Act — Statewide STR GrandfatheringTennessee §6-54-127 — Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning & Rent Control BanTennessee Heritage Protection Act — Memorials on Public PropertyTennessee Agricultural District and Farmland Preservation ActTennessee Industrial Development Board TIF — Economic Impact Plan DistrictsTennessee NPDES Stormwater & Riparian Buffer — Construction & MS4 PermitsTennessee Public Chapter 1101 (1998) — UGB / PGA / RA Growth Plan Regime

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

AND
  • ordinance.affordable_housing_program_present == True
  • ordinance.structure == voluntary_density_bonus_optin

Preempted fields

3 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
inclusionary_zoning.voluntary_incentive_program_authorizationoverrideexpressly_authorized§13-4-401: municipalities may create voluntary attainable housing incentive programs offering zoning/land-use exceptions to property owners who voluntarily provide attainable or below-market-rate housing
inclusionary_zoning.permissible_incentive_toolsadd['density_bonus', 'height_bonus', 'parking_reduction', 'fee_waiver', 'expedited_permitting', 'tax_abatement_subject_to_separate_authority']Carve-out permits a wide menu of zoning-based incentives so long as participation is voluntary and not a condition of underlying approval
inclusionary_zoning.affordability_covenant_term_floorfloor_at20Typical practice (Chattanooga, Knoxville) requires 20-year minimum affordability covenant tied to AMI band; Public Chapter 1051 leaves term to local ordinance design

Citation

Authority source
Tenn. Code Ann. §§13-4-401 through 13-4-403 (Voluntary Attainable Housing Incentive Programs); 2024 Public Chapter 1051 (HB 1340 / SB 1051); harmonized with §6-54-127 (mandatory IZ ban) and §66-35-102 (rent control / mandatory affordability prohibition)
§ §§13-4-401 et seq.
https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-13/chapter-4/part-4/section-13-4-401/

Research notes

Companion carve-out to TN_6_54_127_MANDATORY_IZ_BAN — codifies the policy that voluntary IZ is OK while mandatory IZ is preempted. Chattanooga launched its Voluntary Attainable Housing program January 2025, Knoxville followed 2025 Q2, Nashville Metro Council drafting variant. The voluntary structure is enforceable only where (a) participation by a developer is genuinely optional, (b) base-zoning entitlements remain available without participating, (c) the incentive provides measurable value above base entitlement. Programs structured as 'voluntary' but where base entitlement is functionally infeasible without participating risk reclassification as de-facto mandatory and §6-54-127 preemption. Pairs with §66-35-102 (Title 66 housing rent-control / mandatory-affordability bar) — both statutes survive the carve-out by limiting the bar to MANDATORY programs.