In Tennessee, Property Rights Aren’t Optional
By Ben Stormes
Private property rights are the cornerstone of a free and prosperous society. They allow individuals to own land and resources, decide how to use them, transfer or sell them, divide them, and exclude others from doing so. In this way, private property acts as a vital check on government power and gives people real control over their lives. It is also the foundation of a market economy. Not only does private property encourage stewardship and the efficient use of resources, but it also forms the basis for market exchange. For these reasons, the Founding Fathers believed that the primary role of government was to protect life, liberty, and property.
Yet in the modern era, governments at every level—local, state, and federal—routinely violate property rights. At the local level, land-use regulations, especially zoning laws, have dramatically restricted what owners are allowed to do with their own land. These rules not only prevent builders from constructing much-needed housing, but they can also prevent you from building a garage apartment for your grandmother or subdividing your farm to pass on to your children. The government’s power to restrict how we use our property is enormous. Even worse, when regulations slash a property’s value—sometimes by 90 percent or more—owners are rarely compensated for their loss.
Fortunately, Tennesseans strongly value property rights. According to the results of the January 2026 Beacon Poll, 72 percent of Tennesseans agree that people should be free to use their property as they see fit, so long as they do not harm others or create genuine health or safety risks. Two-thirds agree that once land is zoned, property owners—not government—should have the greatest say over what can be built on it. And an overwhelming 87 percent believe that if government regulations reduce the value of your property, the government should compensate you for that loss.
The government has a role to play in ensuring public and health safety. But decisions about how property is used should largely be left to the individuals who own that property. Unfortunately, zoning in Tennessee severely limits how individuals may use their property. As detailed in Beacon’s Middle Tennessee Zoning Atlas, a majority of land is zoned for non-residential purposes or solely for single-family housing. Duplexes are banned on 59 percent of land, and multifamily housing is banned on nearly 94 percent of land. Moreover, some jurisdictions, in an effort to block new land uses or prevent the subdivision of property, have imposed building moratoria lasting up to nine months or dramatically increased minimum lot sizes across large portions of the county—effectively freezing development and new land use.
Property owners know their own needs best, and the free market is a far better way to determine what should be built and sold, not the government. With the expansive growth in Tennessee, it may be tempting to use the power of government to stop that growth or tightly control land use. Yet doing so comes at a high cost. Restricting how land may be used disrupts supply and demand, drives up prices, and creates shortages—especially in housing. Bad policies are already fueling the affordability crisis and will only get worse with more government action.
More importantly, excessive land use regulation limits freedom. If Tennessee is to be the freest and most prosperous state in the nation, strong protection of private property rights is not optional—it is essential.