Anyone hoping to make an easy buck off vacation properties must contend with an 'Airbnbust' and a growing number of places looking to regulate short-term rentals

A four-hour drive south of Denver, Alamosa (population 10,000) is known for its proximity to Great Sand Dunes National Park, where visitors flock to see the tallest dunes in North America. 

As of November 2021, Alamosa had 24 short-term rentals registered with the city — and many more unregistered ones, the Alamosa Citizen reported.

In April 2022, the Alamosa City Council unanimously passed an ordinance and two resolutions that were seen as a compromise between the interests of short-term-rental owners and frustrated residents. 

Under the new regulations, short-term rentals that are available for less than 30 days can only be in certain types of dwellings, including single-family homes or one unit in a multifamily property. Renting units in multifamily buildings with more than four units is no longer allowed.

Short-term-rental owners will also have to obtain a license for an initial cost of $750 and a yearly renewal fee of $300. There is now a 5% cap on the number of short-term-rental licenses that will be issued per zone, or city neighborhood.

When a new short-term-rental license is issued, neighbors must be notified.

The Alamosa Citizen reported that area employers were struggling to recruit workers given "a tight and increasingly expensive housing market."

"It is important to bring resolution to this item so business owners can predict what will be expected of them, neighborhoods will have some protections from nuisances, there is reasonable preservation of housing units for residents," Heather Brooks, the Alamosa city manager, told the Valley Courier. 

Aspen voters approved a ballot measure in November 2022 that imposes a pair of new taxes on short-term and vacation rental properties. Ballot Issue 2A imposes a 5% tax on nightly room rates for short-term rentals with lodge-exempt permits and a 10% tax on investment properties. 

The measures were approved by the local city council just days after Steamboat Springs, another popular Colorado resort town about three hours north of Aspen, passed a similar ordinance imposing new taxes on vacation rentals. 

Aspen City Council member Rachel Richards told the Post Independent in November 2022 that the vote is a "re-affirmation that Aspen is a community, wants to be a community, and supports the community."

There are 979 STRs in Aspen and they charge an average daily rate of $749, according to AirDNA. Aspen is also the most expensive city in Colorado to live in with an average home price of more than $2.9 million, according to Zillow. 

Opponents of the measure have argued that it will depress tourism in one of Colorado's best-known resort locations. In the summer of 2020, Aspen hospitality businesses saw their average daily rates increase by 29% year-over-year while their revenue per available room increased by nearly 99%, according to data from the Aspen Chamber of Commerce.

In March 2021, Atlanta passed an ordinance to regulate short-term rentals.

It requires hosts to pay a $150 annual fee for a permit — and provide a copy of the property's deed and a utility bill — to operate a rental property. The rentals are taxed at 8%, the same as hotels in Atlanta. A violation of the ordinance carries a $300 fine.

"I'm trying to stop the city from becoming a de facto hotel city," a city councilman, Antonio Lewis, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The bill was approved by a 13-2 council vote to crack down on party houses by making the owner of the unit responsible for violations.

The law was scheduled to go into effect in March 2022.

However, according to an analysis of city-permitting data by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, roughly 10% of the city's 7,100 listings applied for permits two months after the application process opened. Less than 3% received permits.

The city is still collecting input from stakeholders and has delayed enforcement of the measures. It held a meeting in March 2023 to discuss the future of short-term rentals in the city.

Vermont's most populous city attracts more than just autumnal leaf-peepers, welcoming visitors year-round for its breweries, nature excursions, and cultural attractions. 

For a year, the city government was locked in a debate over the growth of short-term rentals. There are now between 200 to 250 short-term rentals in the 40,000-person city, according to the VTDigger, and the major concern for officials is whether short-term rentals take away housing stock from Burlington residents. 

In February 2022, the city council passed an ordinance requiring short-term-rental owners to also live in the house as their primary residence. But the mayor vetoed the measure in March, saying it was too restrictive.

In April 2022, the city council, with new members sworn in, voted to consider a new set of rules and passed a brand-new ordinance in June, according to the local outlet Seven Days. 

Short-term-rental owners must now live on the property, though there are some exceptions. Hosts will also pay an annual fee of up to $110 and a 9% tax on revenue from the rental, according to Seven Days.

In 2022, the Chattanooga City Council paused all applications for short-term rental that are not owner-occupied until the end of the year.

When the deadline arrived, the city council extended the pause another 6 months until July 2023, partially to hire more personnel to focus on the issue, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

The city, with a riverfront and historic battlegrounds that attract tourists, has been debating the merits of its profitable rental industry. A local station, Channel 9 News, reported that Airbnb rentals brought in tax revenue of $3.5 million for the county in 2021. 

But some residents are concerned about the ability of outside investors to reap rewards at the expense of Chattanooga locals. 

"I'm not in favor of having investors that come in out of state, out of country even, and buy 10 to 15 pieces of property. They're not invested in the community. They're not invested in Chattanooga," Donna Morgan, a local resident, told Channel 9.

There are 1,120 active short-term rentals, according to analytics site AirDNA.

The Idaho resort town Coeur d'Alene has halted all short-term rental applications for 2023 and is now requiring a permit for rentals under 14 days, a reversal of previous rules, according to CBS affiliate KREM.

The city first passed laws concerning short term rentals in 2017, but is considering adding a slew of restrictions as the number of vacation rentals continues to grow. Coeur d'Alene's General Services/Public Works Committee could amend the law to require off-street parking, increase fees for violating the ordinance, and limit the number of permits issued annually. 

"We can't have a thousand people rushing to get a permit when we might not allow that many," Councilwoman Christie Wood told KREM 2 in September. 

According to AirDNA, there are about 790 active vacation rentals in Coeur d'Alene that charge an average daily rate of around $260. However, a large chunk of the rentals may be illegal as city officials told local news station KREM in November that only 453 vacation rental properties have been authorized. 

The debate over vacation rentals in Coeur d'Alene comes at a time when the local housing market is shifting in favor of buyers. The median home value is down more than 9% to just under $550,000 as of February 2023 while the number of homes sold has dropped by nearly 29% year-over-year, according to Redfin.

Local leaders on the Dallas City Plan Commission voted 9-4 in December 2022 to recommend defining short-term rental properties as "lodging" under the city's zoning code. The move could effectively prevent the properties from existing in Dallas' single-family residential neighborhoods. 

The Dallas City Council still needs to approve the recommendation before any enforcement actions can take place. In April 2023, the body postponed a scheduled vote to recieve more informational briefings on the matter, according to the Dallas NBC affiliate. 

Commissioner Claire Stanard, one of the commission members who voted in favor of the proposal, told the Dallas Morning News that the proposal could help improve public safety. The commission heard several complaints from local residents about "party houses" with loud music and lots of cars during their debate. 

"If my granddaughter is living next to a short-term rental or between them, is that really what my son-in-law bought a house to have as his next-door neighbor," Standard said. 

According to data from AirDNA, there are more than 5,400 short-term rentals in Dallas. The properties charge an average daily rate of $165 and they have a 60% occupancy rate. 

Other commissioners weren't as convinced that adding new regulations would help solve the problems that city residents are complaining about. 

"I don't have any faith that regulation is the sole solution to this problem," Commissioner Melissa Kingston told the Dallas Morning News. 

Other cities in Texas like Fort Worth and Arlington have already restricted vacation rental properties from their residential neighborhoods.

Another vacation destination that has imposed limitations on short term rental properties is Dauphin Island, Alabama, a small island off of the gulf coast in Pelican Bay. 

In August 2022, Dauphin Island's Planning Commission finalized several STR restrictions in a rewrite of the town's zoning code. The restrictions include limiting where short term rental properties can be located on the island, restricting the number of vehicles that can be parked at a rental property, and imposing a $75 annual fee for rental property owners. 

The new limitations have put residents at odds with one another, according to a report by AL.com. Some claim the properties are improving the island by attracting tourists. Those who want to limit the number of short term rentals say the regulations are striking a balance between business interests and the local community. 

"One group will say they are renting out (their house) and the next thing you know is you have eight cars parked all over the yards," Dauphin Island City Councilman Earle Connell, who is also the local liaison for the planning commission, told AL.com in August 2022. "To them, it's a vacation. I understand that. But these people who do that don't understand we have a community and neighborhood that is protected."

There are 574 vacation rental homes in Dauphin Island, and they have a 68% occupancy rate, according to AirDNA.

Dillon, Colorado's city council is considering how to move forward with the town's new short-term rental regulations after voters approved a slate of measures aimed at curtailing the properties in November. 

Currently, city council members are considering raising the annual fee to operate a short-term rental from $250 to $700, while removing previous requirements for parking, according to a report by Summit Daily.  

The ordinance comes after voters approved a pair of ballot questions that levy a 5% excise tax on short-term rentals and increased the city's lodging tax from 2% to 6%. 

The city – which has just over 1,000 full-time residents – is located in Summit County, home to some of Colorado's favorite ski attractions such as the Breckenridge ski resort, Copper Mountain, and Grays Peak. 

Overall, the city estimates that the new taxes could return approximately $3 million in annual tax revenue. Dillon can collect up to $4.5 million of this specific tax before triggering a tax refund under state law, town finance director Carri McDonnell told Steamboat Pilot & Today.

Voters approved the new taxes at a time when Dillon's housing market was soaring. Dillon's median home price had increased nearly 25% year-over-year to $917,500, according to Redfin. Things have cooled down as of February 2023, when the media home price was $685,000.

Frisco, Colorado – a small town in central Colorado – capped the number of short-term-rental properties within its jurisdiction at 900, or 25% of the local housing stock, back in October 2022. 

The new regulations also require short term rental landlords to live at their property for at least 10 months out of the year but passed on the opportunity to create a new license for short-term rentals versus traditional rental properties, according to the Summit Daily. 

The ordinance could also have a significant impact on tourism in Frisco, which is seen by locals as a cheap midway point between popular resort destinations like Breckenridge and Copper Mountain. Frisco currently levies a 5% excise tax on short-term rentals and a 2% lodging tax.

"There are a lot of people very unhappy — as one person had mentioned — with having the short-term rentals next to them because some people might be very careful to who they rent to and how they monitor it, but others are not," city council member Lisa Holenko told Summit Daily. 

There are currently more than 1,700 STRs in Frisco, according to AirDNA. These properties charge an average daily rate of $299 and have an average occupancy rate of about 50%.

Popular tourist towns like Lexington, Kentucky — which is home to the annual Kentucky Derby — are starting to crack down on vacation rentals at a time when their housing markets are growing more competitive by the day. 

Lexington's Special Planning and Public Safety Committee is considering requiring Airbnb and Vrbo landlords in the area to acquire a special business license and imposing an additional transient tax on the properties, according to a report by WKYT. 

Business owners like Heath Green, co-owner of the Kentucky Life Property Management Group, told the committee that the additional measures could decrease tourism, which is Kentucky's economic bread and butter. 

But the measure also comes at a time when real estate values in Lexington are outpacing the national average in terms of home price appreciation. Data from Redfin shows that Lexington's median home price has increased 14.8% over the last year up to $310,000 as of February 2023. That's compared to the national average increase of just 1.1%, according to Redfin. 

There are more than 1,200 active vacation rentals in Lexington that charge an average daily rate of $171 and have an occupancy rate of more than 50%, according to data from AirDNA.

Voters in Marco Island, Florida, approved an ordinance in August 2022 that created a registration program for short-term-rental properties and imposed several new restrictions. After months of debate, it was narrowly approved by the local city council in December. 

To register a property, short-term-rental owners must hold a liability insurance policy of at least $1 million, provide city officials with a phone number that is answered 24-hours per day, and pay a $50 registration fee. 

The ordinance was submitted by a group called Take Back Marco, a nonpartisan political action committee. Ed Issler, who leads Take Back Marco, told WINK that additional regulations are necessary because short-term-rental properties have "gotten out of control" on Marco Island. According to data from AirDNA, there are more than 2,400 short term rental properties, which charge an average daily rate of $329. 

Vacation-rental-property owners have filed a lawsuit to prevent the ordinance from going into effect. David Di Pietro, an attorney representing the property owners, told Gulfshore Business in August 2022 that the ordinance is overly restrictive. 

"Once this ordinance passes, until you receive the certificate from the city, which means you have to have an inspection from the fire department and the city, you can't rent until that's done," Di Pietro said. "There are over 2,000 rentals and there's nobody doing that job right now. So, we think that it's going to be a ban for an indefinite amount of time."

In April 2023, the Florida Association of Realtors filed a lawsuit claiming the restrictions are illegal, according to local newspaper The Marco Eagle.

Starting in July 2023, new short-term rental owners in Memphis will need to be licensed, according to Tennessee newspaper The Commercial Appeal.

Owners operating prior to July 1st are exempt from the new ordinance, though if the property is sold, a new owner would have to apply. Currently, there are 1,600 short-term rentals in Memphis bringing in an average daily rate of $158, according to analytics site AirDNA. 

As part of the license, owners will have to identify an on-call adult living within 50 miles of the house who can respond to any alleged noise violations or disorderly conduct. They will also need proof of at least $1 million of insurance coverage.

"Obviously there's a proper use and improper use of residential properties," Robert Knecht, director of public works for Memphis, told the Commercial Appeal. "What we're trying to do is manage improper uses." 

Tennessee proponents of short-term rentals notched a win last year, when a bill passed in the Tennessee House of Representatives that would broaden the definition of an "owner-occupied" home, potentially overruling some local city and town regulations, according to WREG, Memphis's CBS affiliate. Memphis' regulations define a short-term rental as any home that is "three sleeping rooms'' or smaller that is advertised for "transient occupancy." 

Applications in Memphis will cost $300 and annual renewals will be $150. 

It's not just Americans who oppose the barrage of short-term rentals. In April 2023, the Montreal borough Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, located 30 minutes north of downtown Montreal, banned any new short-term rentals, joining three other boroughs, according to the CBC.

Activists in Montréal, the largest city in Canada's Quebec province, are trying to curb the wave of listings in order to preserve housing for residents.

"In recent years, we have lost thousands of apartments in Montréal to short-term rentals," Cédric Dussault, the spokesperson for the Coalition of Housing Committees and Tenants Associations of Quebec, told the CBC in a May 2022 interview.

Some restrictions are already in place. Currently, in order to rent out a unit, the owner must obtain an establishment number and, in some cases, a classification certificate from Quebec's tourism body. Since May 2020, it is required that operators put the establishment number on any advertisement or posting to rent space. The maximum stay is also capped at 31 days.

Montréal, however, has had a tough time enforcing these regulations. 

CBC cited data from independent watchdog group Inside Airbnb stating that 11,639 Montréal Airbnbs are unlicensed. That's about 95% of them, it estimated.

"The simple story is that the province put a very good set of rules in place, but has not put in any effort to make sure that anybody follows those rules," David Wachsmuth, the Canada Research Chair in Urban Governance at McGill University, told CBC.

Mayor Eric Adams has moved to require Airbnb and Vrbo hosts to register their properties with the city, provide proof that the hosts live in the units with their guests, and show that the property meets local zoning and safety guidelines. The proposal went into effect January 2023  and hosts who fail to comply could face between $1,000 and $5,000 in penalties. 

A report by NPR suggests the policy could remove as many as 10,000 short-term rentals that are operating in the city illegally. 

"Currently as is, this is an entirely unregulated market and the consequences have been disastrous for New Yorkers," New York State Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani said during a hearing about the proposal in early December 2022.

Data from AirDNA shows that there are more than 24,500 active short-term rentals in New York City that charge an average daily rate of $234 and are about 75% occupied.

In 2023, state representative Sean Quinlan introduced a bill into the Hawaii House of Representatives that would change zoning laws and allow any county to phase out legal short-term rentals, according to ABC affiliate KITV. 

It's the most dramatic action against short-term rentals since April 2022, when Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi signed a law requiring a 90-day minimum stay for rentals in residential areas on the island of Oahu. Hawaii News Now reported that the city estimates there are between 10,000 to 14,000 short-term rentals in Oahu.

"This is a historic moment," Blangiardi said at a press conference for the bill, which passed the City Council by a vote of 8-1. 

The law that passed in April 2022 applies to the non-resort neighborhoods of Hawaii's most popular island, Oahu, which is home to iconic attractions like Waikiki Beach and Pearl Harbor. Before the pandemic, the Hawaii Tourism Authority recorded over 6 million visitors to Oahu in 2019, which represented nearly half of all tourism spending for the state. 

But local residents complain of tourists overrunning residential neighborhoods, taking away housing opportunities, and causing disturbances.

"Any economic benefits of opening up our residential areas to tourism are far outweighed by the negative impacts on our neighborhoods and local residents," Oahu resident Thomas Cestare said at a city council hearing, according to Hawaii News Now.

In June 2022, however, a group of short-term-rental owners sued the city, seeking an exemption for 30- to 90-day rentals that existed pre-ordinance, according to Courthouse News Service. In the suit, the Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance said thousands of owners previously operating legally would be "irreparably harmed" by the new 90-day minimum. 

In October 2022, a judge stopped enforcement of the 90-day minimum ban by granting an injunction, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. That same month, Hawaii News Now reported that Honolulu officials deployed a team of seven full-time employees to fine short-term rental operators up to $10,000 day for offering stays under 30 days, which was previously banned. 

Palm Springs, California, a small town that borders Mt. San Jacinto State Park in the southern part of the state, recently adopted an ordinance to limit the number of short-term rentals in its jurisdiction to 20% of homes in residential neighborhoods, KESQ reported in November 2022. 

The new ordinance also reduced the number of days that a landlord can rent out their vacation rental property from 36 to 26. All existing permits plus the 300 applications the city received before October 17, 2022, will be grandfathered in, according to the report. 

There are more than 4,100 active vacation rentals in the city, according to data from AirDNA. The properties charge an average daily rate of $500 and are about 63% occupied, the data shows. 

For comparison, there are just 541 homes listed for sale in Palm Springs, according to Redfin, and the market commands a median home price of $715,000, an 8.4% increase when compared to February 2022. Zillow shows there are just 109 homes for rent in the city as well.

One of California's wealthiest cities is planning to limit the number of short-term rental properties in its jurisdiction as it struggles to add new housing units. 

Palo Alto's city council voted 5-2 in December 2022 to explore creating new regulations on vacation rentals. The council is exploring regulations that range from requiring the properties to be owner-occupied to banning rentals of fewer than 30 days, Palo Alto Online reported.

Data from AirDNA shows that there are 610 short-term rentals in Palo Alto, which attract an average daily rate of $277 and have a 77% occupancy rate. For comparison, Zillow's website shows there are just 222 available rental listings in Palo Alto. 

"We have more units available through Airbnb through short-term rentals than we do as far as just available rental units in the city," Palo Alto council member Greer Stone told Palo Alto Online. "That's a concern. Presumably, every short-term rental unit on the market is potentially a housing unit that someone can be in long-term or permanently."

Other council members noted that limiting short-term rentals in the area could greatly restrict the ability of families visiting relatives who are being treated at nearby Stanford Hospital to find a place to stay in town. 

"If we remove this option, we're really going to be limiting the people who live here and the people who have a pretty legitimate need to come here," said councilwoman Alison Cormack. 

Starting October 1, 2023, local officials in Park Township, Michigan — which is located about 30 miles due west of Grand Rapids — will start enforcing a town rule that prohibits short-term rental properties in residential neighborhoods. 

The ordinance has been on the books since 1974, the town's board of trustees noted as they voted unanimously on the plan during their November 2022 meeting. The ordinance still allows short-term rentals in commercial zones just like hotels and motels. 

During the meeting, the trustees offered a range of reasons why they support the ordinance, from keeping the peace to preserving the character of the resort town's residential neighborhoods. 

Data from AirDNA shows that there are 141 active vacation rental properties in Park Township compared to the 83 homes listed for sale and the five homes for rent that are listed on Zillow.

In late March 2023, Maine state lawmakers referred a bill to the Joint Select Committee on Housing with sweeping recommendations to tackle the state's housing crisis, including a database of short-term rentals and a redirection of revenue from short-term rental taxes, according to the Portland Press Herald. 

Last year, voters defeated a restrictive initiative on short-term rentals by a 55% to 45% margin. The proposal was submitted by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, a political organization, and approved by the local city council in the summer of 2022. It would have banned corporate owners of rental properties from owning short-term rentals, prohibited evictions for the purpose of converting a property to a short-term rental, and increased penalties for properties that don't comply with the law. 

According to data from AirDNA, there are 766 short term rental properties in Portland and they have an occupancy rate of 74%. These properties are also charging an average daily rate of nearly $280, which is less than other popular destinations in Maine such as Bar Harbor.

Red Hook, a small town about two hours north of New York City in the bucolic Hudson Valley region, unanimously passed short-term-rental regulations at the end of 2021.

The local laws limit the number of days a property can be rented out, establish rules for what type of renting is allowed, and require permits for hosting.

In districts that are heavily residential, only one-bedroom rentals are permitted and are limited to 120 days per year. In less densely residential areas, units with multiple bedrooms are allowed to be rented. They are not capped by a day limit. 

No matter its size, the rule says, the home must be the primary residence of the host.

To give a sense of the number of short-term rentals in the broader area, a search for available Airbnbs for a weekend in June in and around Red Hook, New York, led to more than 626 listings.

Some Red Hook residents have voiced concerns about their town becoming overrun by weekenders and as a site for party houses. 

"With nearly four years of committee and community discussion, input and changes, we hope we've been able to strike a balance between encouraging short-term rentals and protecting residential neighborhoods from conversion," Robert McKeon, the Red Hook town supervisor, told the Poughkeepsie Journal. 

The Santa Rosa City Council voted in August 2022 to limit the number of STRs in its jurisdiction to 198. 

There are currently 581 short-term-rental properties in Santa Rosa, according to AirDNA, which means that nearly two-thirds of property owners won't be able to continue renting their homes. The new limitations have also pitted neighbor against neighbor in the town that sits 55 miles north of San Francisco. 

"My problem is I moved into a residential neighborhood and now I live next to a hotel," resident Bernadette Burrell told the city council in August when they voted on the new cap.

The new cap on short-term rentals comes as cities across California move to place restrictions on these properties. Other cities include Lake Tahoe, Temecula, and Riverside. 

Property owners say the new cap is just another example of city officials "harassing" them and trying to "solve a problem that doesn't exist," according to a report by CBS News. 

Rental owners like Gary Lentz told CBS that they try to work collaboratively with neighbors who complain about noise and other issues with their properties. Still, Lentz feels the scrutiny against his business is unjustifiable. 

"It's almost unenforceable what these people are trying to do," Lentz said.

The beachy city of Sarasota has become a hotbed for short-term-rental stays — especially in the early spring months.

With 4,923 active listings, AirDNA listed Sarasota as the No. 3 destination in the country for spring travel in 2022, based nights booked for March and April, behind Orlando and Phoenix. That's notable, considering Sarasota's population of 54,842 is a fraction of Orlando's 307,573 residents and Phoenix's 1.6 million residents.

The city passed vacation-rental regulations in May 2021. Sarasota now requires a seven-day minimum for stays, and a 10-person maximum for single-family-home stays.  

Some residents — like Caitlyn Marriott, who lives in nearby Venice — believe that isn't enough and are advocating for further regulations.

"The county and some small towns tried to initiate some local ordinances to try to put a curb on the effects that it would have on neighbors, but not so much the community as a whole," Marriott said.

Starting June 1, 2022, hosts are required to have a certificate of registration, which costs $250, from the city in order to rent out property for less than 30 days. Registration is not required for owner-occupied vacation rentals, condos, and rentals that exceed 30 days, according to the city.

Steamboat Springs, an idyllic ski town in northwest Colorado, passed an ordinance in June 2022 that created a 9% tax on short-term rental properties to fund affordable housing developments. 

The law was passed as wealthy out-of-towners continue to make up a majority of buyers in Colorado's resort towns. In 2020, nearly two-thirds of homebuyers in Routt County — where Steamboat Springs is located — hailed from other counties and took home an average salary of approximately $150,000, according to a survey by the Colorado Association of Ski Towns. 

For comparison, more than 60% of Routt County's workforce earns less than $150,000 per year, the survey found. Meanwhile, the average home sales price in the county was $2.1 million in February 2023, a 58.9% increase from February 2022, according to data from the Colorado Association of Realtors (CAR). 

"There is not a day goes by that I don't hear from someone ... that they have to move" because they can't afford rent, Heather Sloop, Steamboat Springs' city council president, told KUNC, an NPR affiliate station in northern Colorado. "It's crushing our community."

An economic impact study commissioned by Airbnb in May 2022 shows that there are more than 6,800 short-term rentals listed in Routt County compared to the county's total housing inventory of 16,800 units. 

Short-term rental and second-property owners pushed back against the ordinance, saying it could effectively tax them out of the town.  

"New people became involved with the politics and the ski resorts and everything, and their goal was to make it a winter and summer destination," Sara Gambino, a local real-estate broker, told Steamboat Pilot & Today. "So, they're kind of going back on all the work that went into making the county the destination that it is."

Tybee Island, Georgia, which sits about 20 miles southeast of Savannah along the South Carolina border, passed an ordinance in October that prohibits vacation and short-term rental properties from its residential neighborhoods. 

The move comes about 16 months after the local city council initially instituted a moratorium on short term rental properties like Airbnb and Vrbo in August 2021, citing numerous complaints from local residents. 

"I've seen my neighborhood change from all permanent residents to over half vacation rentals now," Anna Butler, a Tybee resident since 1994, told Savannah Now in August. "I support the extension of the moratorium so that the new ordinance can be worked out in a fair and equitable manner."

However, not everyone agrees with the ordinance. Tybee Alliance, a local coalition of business leaders, is suing Tybee Island to overturn the ordinance. 

"We believe that the city disregarded their own city charter and state law in passing the ordinance by ignoring the basic rules by which a city government is required to provide written notice and written text of a law before they pass it so that the public can review, comment and provide feedback to their elected leaders," Dusty Church, a member of Tybee Alliance, told local news station WTOC in December. 

According to data from AirDNA, there are about 1,500 active short-term rentals on the island today. That's compared to the island's total population of about 3,000 full-time residents, according to census data.

Weehawken, New Jersey, sitting on the Hudson River waterfront directly across from Manhattan, banned all short-term rentals in the 15,000-person town at the very end of 2022.

The new law went into effect immediately, impacting stays that ranged from $80 to $400 per night on the Airbnb site. 

Mayor Richard Turner told the Hudson Reporter that town officials will "examine all the ordinances" other New Jersey communities passed and could one day bring back short-term rentals with stricter regulations. But for now, he believes a ban was necessary. 

"Right now we're going to ban them because it really is starting to get out of control," Turner told the Reporter. 

Affordable housing was a top motivation, the mayor explained. "We are losing affordable apartments to Airbnb and we decided to take some action because we have several buildings that are getting carried away with it," he told the Hudson Reporter. 

Penalties for owners breaking the ban start with $1,000 for the first infraction and jump to $2,000 and the possibility of jail time for a third infraction.