A few months ago, I wrote about efforts just about everywhere to clamp down on short term rentals in an order to increase the availability of long-term rentals for locals who need a place to live.
The problem is more severe in destination locations, such as the popular red rock wonderland of Sedona, Arizona, where the city has recently approved offering $10,000 incentives to some homeowners if they agree to rent their homes only to long-term renters.
There is no simple solution to the rental issue that pleases everybody. People need a place to live, but no one wants the government telling them what they can do with their property. This feels like a local-level problem to be solved on a community basis. I applaud the creative thinking that went into the Sedona solution. It’s pro-owner and pro-renter. I wonder if it will work.
Other solutions include incentives to build mother-in-law apartments in exchange for making them long term rentals, community involvement in affordable housing design to address NIMBYISM, and revitalizing low-income neighborhoods to make them more desirable rental communities.