Short-term rentals are hollowing out communities with loose restrictions

Housing as a right, zoning, and density

• Some argue “housing as a human right” is an empty slogan unless tied to concrete changes like ending exclusionary zoning and allowing more construction.
• Others suggest codifying it could justify legal challenges to zoning, parking minimums, and other barriers.
• Strong thread-wide support for more density and ending single-family-only zoning; disagreements over how far deregulation should go and potential “Kowloon-style” overcrowding.

Role of short-term rentals (STRs) in housing markets

• Many see STRs as removing units from long-term housing, worsening shortages and pushing prices up, especially where zoning already constrains supply.
• Others argue STRs are just one factor; core issues include underbuilding, restrictive regulation, and (in Canada) immigration not matched to housing and infrastructure capacity.
• Some claim STRs simply reflect market demand and represent “highest and best use,” while critics say “most profitable” isn’t “best for society.”

Community impacts and neighbor experiences

• Multiple accounts of STR-heavy buildings/blocks: noise, parties, trash, parking problems, and a “ghost neighborhood” feel with few permanent residents.
• A detailed UK story describes years of sleep loss, harassment, and lack of council action next to an unregulated party STR.
• Others note they’ve never felt “community” where they live and build social ties elsewhere, questioning the romanticization of neighborhood cohesion.

Why guests and hosts choose STRs

• Guests: more space, kitchens for cooking, better for families and long stays, often cheaper than hotels; dislike of hotel chemicals/ventilation also mentioned.
• Hosts/owners: higher potential revenue vs long-term leases and easier exit from problematic tenants; some nomads live almost entirely in STRs.

Policy proposals and regulation debates

• Suggested measures:
  • Legalize much more housing density; let supply meet demand.
  • Clear, limited processes for licensed B&Bs/inns, with STRs treated as real businesses.
  • HOA and local bans on STRs in residential buildings; many report these as effective.
  • Ownership or STR “cooldown” rules so properties can’t be flipped in and out of STR use purely for speculation.
  • Luxury or higher taxes on multiple/non-resident homes; others doubt this fixes core incentives.

Investment, speculation, and ownership structure

• Repeated concern that housing has become a speculative asset (“HODL”), with owners benefiting from scarcity and opposing new supply.
• Disagreement over whether limiting corporate/large-scale ownership would help if many small owners can still profit from constrained supply.
• Some favor taxing rents or land more heavily; others stress that treating housing as investment is what motivates building at all.

Tourism towns and local economies

• In small tourist cities (Flagstaff, St George, etc.), STRs are seen as pricing out low-wage local workers while serving high-income outsiders.
• Even with new construction, prices cluster at levels unaffordable to local service workers; zoning reforms alone may be insufficient where construction costs and investor demand stay high.
• Tension noted between dependence on tourism and damage to year-round housing affordability and community stability.

Aesthetics, NIMBYism, and development politics

• One sub-thread debates whether insisting on “beautiful” traditional architecture helps or harms pro-housing efforts.
• One side: beauty is not that subjective; historically mass-produced, attractive urbanism shows we can build dense and beloved neighborhoods.
• Other side: aesthetic standards become a tool for NIMBYs to block projects; focus should be on enabling construction, not arguing about style.