
Today’s guest columnist is Maury Shevin.
The City Council of Birmingham appears to be wrestling with the issue of permitting Short Term Rentals (think VRBO and Airbnb) within residential neighborhoods of the City zoned for single families. Why this “no brainer” issue has so tied up the Council in knots is beyond reason.
Residential neighborhoods are the life blood of any city. The safety and security that comes with knowing one’s neighbors cannot be overstated as contributing to quality of life. Short term rentals are a clear and present danger to residential neighborhoods.
Those who operate short term rentals are engaged in business—nothing more, and nothing less. With very limited exception, businesses are not allowed within zoned single-family, residential neighborhoods. Zoning laws are self-imposed by local governments for very good and valid reasons.
The reason that some Councilors seem to support STRs is based on the belief that homeowners should be able to profit from their properties. Profiting from one’s investments is laudable. But, creating a business in a single-family residential neighborhood is not.
We have a long tradition in our country of placing reasonable limitations on what activities can be conducted within residential neighborhoods. It is fundamental that business activities that alter the character of a residential neighborhood cannot and should not be permitted.
Some Councilors apparently are listening to the voices of short term rental company representatives and property owners, both local and not so local investors, who want to turn a profit from their properties—without regard to such activities destroying the peace and sanctity of their neighbors. This is wrong on so many levels. Do these Councilors want City residents to move to the suburban cities outside of Birmingham—where short term rentals in single family neighborhoods don’t exist?
Do they understand that inviting short term rental ownership into neighborhoods diminishes affordable housing by pricing out families seeking permanent housing in our City—at least until the neighborhood becomes so untenable that prices collapse?
It has been argued that reasonable enforcement regulations can be imposed on property owners within residential neighborhoods that would control the abuses of short term rentals. Depending upon enforcement of such regulations in our City is a fool’s errand. We have trouble enough enforcing the ordinances that are on the books as a result our understaffed departments including sanitation, parks & recreation, code enforcement, traffic and police. To place the burden of enforcement on neighbors and neighborhood associations is an absurd proposition.
Any attempt to fine-tune a regulation that permits short term rentals in single family neighborhoods is an invitation to disaster. Sometimes there are absolute rights, and absolute wrongs. Running a business within a single-family residential neighborhood is just wrong.
The Birmingham City Council needs to listen to the overwhelming cries of residents who are unalterably opposed to short term rentals in their neighborhoods.
Otherwise, the Council makes a mockery of Birmingham’s “Putting People First” tag line.
Maury Shevin—passionate about the City of Birmingham–lives, works, thinks and plays on Birmingham’s Southside.
David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@comebacktown.com.
Maury, how “short term” does a STR have to be to constitute “operating a business” such that you would say it should be banned? People who invest in rental property and offer 6 months leases are also “operating a business” aren’t they?
Maury
Only a lawsuit filed by us home owners will stop this council. This is an election year so the big money mules are now engaged. The city will settle very quickly for obvious reasons. A class action is waiting to filed. I am all in with you indeed.
Maury:
1. Thanks for, like David Sher, for caring so much about our community!
2. And your use of the phrase “clear and present danger” is right on point.
Thank you.
This is a fine opinion to see here, and thank you, Maury. I and all my neighbors are totally in support of the banning of short-term rentals in the residential districts. I had understood that the ordinance does (or started out doing) that, and that other regulations affect only those rentals in non-residential areas. I do know that Valerie Abbott is totally on the neighborhoods’ side and has consistently sought to maintain forceful legislation to prevent and/or control this creeping phenomenon.
I’ve read a report stating that over 50% of national housing is now in corporate hands. Regulated local private airbnb is one thing, but corporate ownership of neighborhood housing for commercial exploitation is quite another.
Local governments should not be allowed to keep short-term rentals out of residential areas. Short-term rental IS residential. People who rent short-term are not worse than the rest of us.
As stated above, you have countless small businesses operating in residential neighborhoods. Are some STR’s problematic, of course, but what is being done to address the apartment complexes and long term rentals that are more numerous and absolutely account for the majority of crime in Bhm. It’s the fact that these are the low hanging fruit targets that make for sensational news. Would the same argument be made if an owner bought and leased several houses on your block and they experienced criminal incidents? Do you ban those?Aren’t they operating a business in a residential neighborhood? Why don’t we not inject feelings and objectively look at the crime data.
As always, the devil is in the details. Is this about “businesses” being operated in single-family neighborhoods? It can’t be, lest we oust the writers, architects, counselors, planners and other “consultants” who operate out of their homes. More today than ever the concept of WFH gives us the flexibility to work from any base…so why not home?
So this must be about short-term rentals only. And how do we define “short “ in this instance? Would a week-long rental by a visiting executive qualify? Or is that not long enough? Two weeks OK? Or maybe a month, six months? Does any rental span qualify as acceptable? Surely it is a difficult line to draw –
Real estate rentals are a major component of the city’s economic composite. Put another way, there’s a lot of ox to be gored here. Counselors should be careful before taking any legislative action that would further threaten our existing neighborhoods.
Maury, thank you so much for this article! I deal with an STR every single day and it has been a nightmare. The guy has a full-sized SCHOOLBUS in his backyard which is not only an eyesore for the community but also eliminates half of his guest parking. Since he has narrowed their parking so much, they want to use my yard as a turnabout. This has been a draining and expensive ongoing event. I put up fence poles, they knock them down. I have to replace at my expense because the owner certainly doesn’t.
Additionally, the premise sleeps nine, so that’s nine or more parking spaces taken over in an area where parking is at a premium.
My peace and sanctity have been completely destroyed by this. Thank you for such an excellent article.
Seems to me that the leading STR companies do a pretty good job of keeping quality guests in the properties. A property owner who wants to maintain the integrity of his property also will put measures in place to maintain the property and have quality guests. I think having short term out of town guests could be great for a neighborhood. I’ve seen it done well. Is there any evidence that short term rentals have caused communities to lose value?
Great Article, Mr. Shevin. My wife has a STR apartment at the garden level of our home. We manage her guest’s behavior in the neighbor because we live ON SITE.
The house next door is also an STR. The investor who bought it promised to be responsive to our complaints. However, we have found the responses to be fairly inconsistent (sometimes we get good and fast responses to issues particularly the obvious issues, while other times we get ignored or our complaint gets diminished). Since the place next door is rented most nights we never know what we’re going to get as the rental is a proverbial “box of chocolates”.
We would propose only allowing STRs in homes where the host resides like we do. I’m sure that some people would say that’s self-serving but, again, we do manage her guests. BUT, we’d even support banning STRs altogether as other communities have done rather than the status quo!
However, if this isn’t feasible,
The Short Term Rental initiative in operation on my street does not work because there is no supervision of the STR’s. No City rules are enforced. The front yard has at least four cars parked there daily, two on the street and two in the driveway. . For a while chickens roamed loosely in the STR yard. The renters trash the street with none standard overrun garbage cans each week. The greedy investors appear to only be interested in making fast money. No effort is made to get to know the neighbors who are working diligently to improve the street’s appearance. In conclusion, under the present City STR operating principles, only homeowners should be allowed to reside in D3 residential areas with zero STRs.
Short-term paying guests should only be allowed if the owner of the property lives onsite. When owners use houses solely as vehicles to make money, instead of as places to live, it usually damages communities economically and socially.
Maury, Agree 100%! No STRs in R3! Clear and present danger. I live across the street from an illegal one. Owned and operated by an out of town state slumlord. It’s way worse than a hotel ;at least they have parking, security, dumpsters… This has to stop. Shame on the city for not enforcing current zoning regulations! And shame on them especially for trying to accommodate STRs and not listening to / representing its residents!
Maury, while I appreciate your perspective, this issue is much more nuanced than is often indicated in editorials on this topic.
As someone who has had extensive experience with short-term rentals in various communities, both as a guest and a host, I would like to provide some additional information on why these types of properties serve a real need.
In Tuscaloosa, we worked with the city council, the mayor and city staff as they performed a comprehensive study on the STR topic. Ultimately a law was established that was both measured and took into account the viewpoints of citizens on both sides of the issue.
One of the main oppositions to short term rentals, which you also state in your comments, is that those who are not in favor fear that they tear at the fabrics of neighborhoods and communities. In fact, this does not have to be the case.
In offering our properties as short term rentals in many different communities, we are doing so with a mindset of, in fact, building or supporting community. Let me explain.
We have allowed families to use our home after losing a loved one, to gather in a place that allows for healing and is much more intimate than a hotel.
We have hosted families looking to relocate to a city from out of state who wanted the experience of what it feels like to live there. Again, this is something that cannot be accomplished nearly as well if they were staying in a hotel during the duration of their visit.
And we have allowed parents to use our home to help a student healing from a medical procedure to have a place that is both peaceful and allowed for family bonding.
When handled in a thoughtful and regulated manner, STRs can also create a valuable tax stream for cities.
Another argument levied by opponents to STRs is that they don’t want to see homes turned into businesses, or residential areas becoming commercial in nature. And yet, this has always happened in residential areas. Lawyers and doctors have practiced out of their homes in previous times. Entrepreneurs have started businesses in garages (Microsoft, anyone?), at kitchen tables and in spare bedrooms.
During the pandemic, many workers began working from home, and continue to do so in record numbers, even as some businesses attempt to implement a return to work policy.
All of these are examples of business being conducted in our neighborhoods and residential areas. Why is the practice of leveraging one’s home for short term rental, when done correctly and in accordance with the law, looked down upon by fellow residents? I believe it can be a result of unwarranted fear and a potential lack of understanding.