Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

Tennessee Senate Bill SB0961 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2	HOUSE BILL 955
3	3	By Brooks
4	4
5	5	SENATE BILL 961
6	6	By Lamar
7	7
8	8
9	9	SB0961
10	10	001142
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13	13	AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 7,
14	14	Chapter 53; Title 9; Title 12; Title 13; Title 66 and
15	15	Title 67, relative to housing.
16	16
17	17	BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
18	18	SECTION 1. This act is known and may be cited as the "Affordable Housing and Tenant
19	19	Protection Act."
20	20	SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 66-35-102, is amended by deleting
21	21	the language "residential or" wherever it appears in subsection (a) and subdivision (b)(1).
22	22	SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 66-35-102(b), is amended by
23	23	deleting subdivisions (2) and (3) and substituting instead:
24	24	(2) This subsection (b) does not prohibit a local government unit from creating or
25	25	implementing a purely voluntary incentive-based program designed to increase the
26	26	construction or rehabilitation of workforce or affordable private commercial rental units,
27	27	which may include providing local tax incentives, subsidization, real property, or
28	28	infrastructure assistance.
29	29	(3) A person who suffers an ascertainable loss of money or property, real,
30	30	personal, or mixed, or any other article, commodity, or thing of value wherever situated,
31	31	as a result of the practices prohibited by this section, may bring an action individually to
32	32	recover actual damages.
33	33	SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 66, Chapter 35, Part 1, is amended by
34	34	adding the following as a new section:
35	35	66-35-104.
36	36	(a) The general assembly finds that:
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41	41	(1) A serious public emergency continues to exist in the housing of a
42	42	considerable number of persons in this state;
43	43	(2) Such emergency necessitates the intervention of state and local
44	44	government in order to prevent speculative, unwarranted, and abnormal
45	45	increases in rents;
46	46	(3) There continues to exist an acute shortage of dwellings;
47	47	(4) Unless residential rents are regulated and controlled, disruptive
48	48	practices and abnormal conditions will produce serious threats to the public
49	49	health, safety, and general welfare;
50	50	(5) Preventative action is necessary in order to prevent exactions of
51	51	unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive rents and rental agreements;
52	52	(6) The transition from regulation to a normal market of free bargaining
53	53	between landlord and tenant, while still the objective of state policy, must be
54	54	administered with due regard for such emergency; and
55	55	(7) The policy expressed in this section may be administered locally
56	56	within local governments by an agency of the local government itself.
57	57	(b) A local government unit may, by two-thirds (2/3) vote of its legislative body,
58	58	adopt an ordinance or resolution to control the amount of rent charged for leasing private
59	59	residential property, including the establishment and adjustment of maximum rents and
60	60	rental application fees.
61	61	(c) Prior to adopting an ordinance or resolution pursuant to subsection (b), the
62	62	local government unit shall:
63	63	(1) Make a determination as to the supply of housing accommodations
64	64	within the local government unit, the condition of the accommodations, and the
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69	69	need for continuing the regulation and control of residential rents within the local
70	70	government unit;
71	71	(2) Establish or designate a board, commission, or agency of the local
72	72	government unit ("local rent agency") to administer the regulation and control of
73	73	residential rents within the local government, including making such studies and
74	74	investigations, conducting hearings, and obtaining such information as it deems
75	75	necessary or proper in prescribing any regulation or order under an ordinance or
76	76	resolution adopted pursuant to subsection (b), or in administering and enforcing
77	77	such local regulations and orders pursuant to the ordinance or resolution, and
78	78	requiring a person who rents or offers for rent or acts as broker or agent for the
79	79	rental of any housing accommodations to furnish any such information, to make
80	80	and keep records and other documents, and to make reports; and
81	81	(3) Establish a process for a person who is aggrieved by a final
82	82	determination of a local rent agency made pursuant to an ordinance or resolution
83	83	to challenge the determination, which process must include written notice and
84	84	explanation of any alleged violation of a regulation or order and an opportunity to
85	85	request an administrative hearing and to subsequently appeal the final order of
86	86	the local rent agency to the chancery court of the county in which the agency is
87	87	located.
88	88	SECTION 5. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 13, Chapter 23, is amended by adding
89	89	the following as a new part:
90	90	13-23-601.
91	91	(a) There is created the increased housing program to be administered by the
92	92	Tennessee housing development agency (THDA).
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97	97	(b) The goal of the program is to help create more affordable housing across this
98	98	state.
99	99	(c) The program must assist both developers and first-time homebuyers.
100	100	Developers may apply for gap financing in building both single family and multi-family
101	101	homes across the state. First-time homebuyers of an owner-occupied primary residence
102	102	may apply for a grant assisting in making their down payments in purchasing the
103	103	residence or paying closing costs, or both. The program must fund both urban and rural
104	104	housing developments across this state.
105	105	(d) The program must give preference to applicants who are looking to develop
106	106	or buy housing in communities that have been under a federally declared disaster within
107	107	the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the date of application.
108	108	(e) Participants in the program must not be eligible for the Tennessee rural and
109	109	workforce housing tax credit provided in § 13-23-134.
110	110	(f) The THDA may promulgate rules in accordance with the Uniform
111	111	Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, to implement the increased
112	112	housing program.
113	113	(g) The THDA shall provide an annual report beginning January 1, 2026, to the
114	114	governor, the speakers of the house of representatives and the senate, the chair of the
115	115	finance, ways, and means committee of the senate, and the chair of the committee
116	116	having jurisdiction over the budget in the house of representatives detailing how many
117	117	awards have been made to both developers and to first-time homebuyers, how many
118	118	additional housing units have been built, along with other program information deemed
119	119	relevant by the THDA.
120	120	13-23-602.
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125	125	(a) There is created in the state treasury a revolving fund for the Tennessee
126	126	housing development agency (THDA) to be designated the "increased housing revolving
127	127	fund".
128	128	(b) The fund must consist of all moneys received by the THDA from
129	129	appropriations, donations, grants, or other sources of funding.
130	130	(c) All monies deposited in the fund must be expended by the THDA for the
131	131	purpose of the increased housing program as described in § 13-23-601.
132	132	(d) The state treasurer shall invest moneys in the fund for the benefit of the fund
133	133	in accordance with § 9-4-603. Interest accruing on investments and deposits of the fund
134	134	must be credited to and remain part of the fund.
135	135	(e) Any unencumbered moneys and any unexpended balance of the fund
136	136	remaining at the end of a fiscal year do not revert to the general fund, but must be
137	137	carried forward until expended in accordance with this part. No part of the fund shall be
138	138	diverted to the general fund or any other public fund.
139	139	(f) Of the funds available, the THDA may use up to five percent (5%) of the
140	140	funds to cover additional administrative costs to the THDA in administering the increased
141	141	housing program.
142	142	SECTION 6. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.