Unhappy Neighbors Are Fighting Back (Airbnb)
The story in the WSJ concentrates on Arizona.
In the dozen years since it was founded, Airbnb Inc. has moved into hundreds of U.S. cities, transforming many of them into vacation-rental meccas. In response, residents across the country have ratcheted up grass-roots efforts aimed at keeping authority over short-term rentals in the hands of towns and cities. Airbnb stock began trading Thursday at $146 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, more than double its initial-public-offering price of $68 a share, and closed at $144.71. The company has warned prospective investors that managing its success in the face of angry neighbors and unfavorable local laws is among its biggest challenges in the U.S. and around the world.
The Covid-19 pandemic, which looked disastrous for the company in the spring, has instead fueled an explosion in rental demand among people flocking to popular destinations within driving distance. In August, half of Airbnb’s global bookings were for stays within 300 miles of the guest’s location, the company said. The popularity of short-term vacation rentals has generated local campaigns and generated publicity about the downside of living next door to a shifting cast of visitors. Denver, Boston and Santa Monica, Calif., are among the U.S. cities that have tightened rules on the operation of short-term rentals.
In Arizona, the one state that passed a law removing the authority of cities to police short-term rentals, at least two state lawmakers are aiming for bills next year to counter the 2016 law. The law was sold to the legislature as “an old couple making a few extra bucks by renting their spare bedroom,” said John Kavanagh, the only state senator to vote against it at the time. “That’s not what ended up happening.”
Investors poured into affluent neighborhoods like Paradise Valley, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix, where they snapped up townhouses to rent on Airbnb, Mayor Jerry Bien-Willner said. Data compiled for the city show that 94% of short-term rental listings in Paradise Valley are stand-alone houses without owners living on-site. Tensions grew, Mr. Bien-Willner said, after a flurry of complaints from neighbors over noisy house parties and crime at the short-term rentals. Cities can do little because they have no say over leasing the properties, he said.
Some Arizonans complained their homes declined in value because no one but investors wanted to buy a house next to a short-term rental, according to Mr. Bien-Willner. “You don’t know your neighbors anymore,” he said. In Sedona, Ariz., a tourist hot spot popular for its striking sandstone canyons, high demand for Airbnb rentals worsened the shortage of affordable housing and “demolished the long-term rental market,” Mayor Sandy Moriarty said. So many residents have moved out that an elementary school closed last year, she said. The city tried to impose zoning restrictions in residential neighborhoods, she said, but was blocked by the state law.
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Mr. Hunter, a 65-year-old resident of Paradise Valley, began his work last year, he said, after the house next door turned into a party house rental. When he learned that Arizona had taken away the power of cities to regulate such properties, he started a group called Neighbors Not Nightmares, hoping to organize other aggrieved homeowners. He said he rolled out a website built by a consultant he found on Craigslist and who worked out of an RV. Mr. Hunter encouraged people to email state lawmakers, and hundreds shared their stories.
Mr. Hunter’s group prepared a survey for all 154 candidates running for the Arizona legislature in the November election and pressed them in emails and phone calls to declare a position on policing short-term rentals. He posted their answers, as well as the names of those who didn’t respond, urging people to vote for those who promised legislative action. State Rep. Aaron Lieberman, a Democrat, was one who promised to throw his weight behind the group’s cause. He was re-elected last month and said he would try to repeal the state law next year. “There’s strength in numbers, and people keep sharing horror stories again and again and again,” he said. “It’s the issue that I’ve heard the most from people about.”
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, who championed the current Arizona law, said in an emailed statement, “We have no intention of changing course.”
More..
https://www.wsj.com/articles/airbnbs-ipo-warning-unhappy-neighbors-are-fighting-back-11607533225 (subscription)
