By Walter Banks, Jr.
Throughout Knox County, families are feeling the squeeze of rising costs of living. Groceries, housing, and utility bills all take a bigger bite out of our wallets, fueling widespread frustration. That frustration may be most acute in housing, where residents feel like homeownership is out of reach. In response, the Knox County Commission is attempting to improve housing affordability by considering an ordinance to cap the number of single-family rentals that larger housing providers can purchase.
While well-intentioned, this proposal misses the mark. Limiting the number of single-family rentals will leave working families with fewer affordable housing options and reduce the supply of available homes, resulting in higher rents and home prices. This misguided ordinance not only scapegoats businesses that are helping address the county’s housing shortage, but it also misunderstands the realities of our housing market. As a result, the ordinance will harm the very families it aims to protect and fail to build more homes – the exact opposite of what the county is trying to accomplish.
Many people across Tennessee rely on single-family rental homes to meet their housing needs – the same holds true in Knox County. Graduate students and part-time faculty at the University of Tennessee, traveling nurses, and families who need flexible housing often rent out of necessity. Restricting single-family rentals would reduce the housing options available to these residents, making it even harder for working families to find quality homes that fit their needs. Why should the County Commission take housing options away from those who depend on them?
Knox County’s housing challenges stem from Knoxville’s steady population growth in recent years, as new residents have moved here, drawn by economic opportunity and high quality of life. Yet new home construction and rental development have failed to keep pace with population growth, tightening the market and driving rents and home prices higher. If the County Commission wants to ease these pressures and achieve affordability, Knox County needs responsible investment and a dramatic increase in housing production.
Housing studies across the country show that when cities restrict supply, affordability worsens for everyone – just look at New York City and what Mayor Zohran Mamdani is doing. Knox County is not immune to that same effect. If the Commissioners want to keep our community accessible to young families, longtime residents, and newcomers alike, we must focus on increasing the total number of homes available, including single-family rentals. The negative consequences of a ban will ripple through our neighborhoods, leaving our working families with fewer housing options and causing costs to continue rising.
Instead of increasing Knox County’s housing supply, this ordinance targets institutional investors, who only own a small share of the housing market. In fact, institutional investors account for less than 10% of home purchases in Knoxville, and most rental properties are owned by small “mom and pop” landlords who own ten or fewer properties.
Single-family rentals should be part of the solution to alleviate cost pressures and the county’s housing shortage. They can serve as a bridge to the American Dream, providing working families, who may not be ready to purchase a home or afford a down payment, with stable housing as they save for their dream home. And, some families might want to live in a certain school district and prefer or need to rent instead of own.
The County Commission is trying to solve an important issue, but they are searching for answers in the wrong place. Pragmatic housing solutions must prevail. Commissioners should prioritize measures that make housing more attainable and lowers costs. If the county is serious about affordability, it must build more homes, protect renters, create more housing options, and expand pathways to homeownership, rather than restricting them.
Walter Blanks Jr. is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit Legacy Society.
