Beacon Center calls housing law unconstitutional

Calling a new Metro affordable housing law an unconstitutional mandate, the libertarian think tank Beacon Center of Tennessee has filed suit against the city.



Filed on behalf of the Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee and in conjunction with the Georgia-based Southeastern Legal Foundation, the suit claims Metro’s new law is an illegal mandate.



The law requires apartment developers building five or more units and requesting variances for greater densities or heights to also include a percentage of new affordable housing units in the project.



Councilwoman Burkley Allen, a sponsor of the legislation, told The Tennessean last year that the new affordable housing requirement was voluntary because it is only triggered when a developer asks for added development rights.



“We’ve worked very hard to craft the language in this to be compatible with the statute that the state set out so that it is up to a developer to make a choice that they are seeking a zoning increase before this is applicable to them,” she told the newspaper. Allen could not be reached for additional comment Monday.



The Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation last year prohibiting such mandatory inclusionary zoning, though Metro advocates have argued their policy is voluntary and thus not precluded by the state law. Additional legislation passed the state House this year but is still awaiting a vote in the Senate. That law would expressly prohibit local governments from requiring below-market housing in exchange for zoning variances.

The group indicated last summer it would likely sue the city over the ordinance.



This won’t be the first legal battle between the Beacon Center and the city. Last fall, the organization sued the city over its new short-term rental property regulations, also arguing they were unconstitutional.



“It is unfair and illegal to make private parties do the government’s job of addressing a public problem,” Beacon Center CEO Justin Owen said in a release. “We don’t tell grocers to take care of hunger by losing money on the food they sell. This will only drive up the cost of housing for middle-class Nashville residents. This is just another example of a liberal city pushing for unpopular and irresponsible policies in an otherwise fiscally responsible state."



The suit, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court Monday, seeks injunctive relief from the ordinance and a judge’s declaration that it is unconstitutional.

