Fort Worth’s rules on Airbnbs in neighborhoods blazed a trail. Don’t mess with them
Neighborhoods are the lifeblood of a city. Yet some want to damage this essential fabric of Fort Worth by allowing Airbnb vacation rentals into residential neighborhoods, turning many neighborhoods into de facto hotel districts.
Since 1993, Fort Worth has enjoyed a comprehensive series of ordinances that bar short-term rentals from single-family districts, while allowing them in commercial and some other zones. These ordinances are the envy of other cities, as they predate the rise of Airbnb and clearly state what is and is not allowed in residential neighborhoods.
Simple right? Apparently not to some.
West Coast giants Airbnb and Vrbo have been spending significant sums lobbying cities and states. Their seductive phrases are tempting. Take a bite of our apple to open your eyes, and we’ll enrich your city coffers with tax dollars and open up opportunities for residents and visitors in your city. Put in a few simple regulations and everything will be fine.
Unfortunately, the reality is drastically different. In 2019 the Economic Policy Institute identified that the costs of such rentals outweigh benefits for city residents and “evidence shows no compelling reason why local policymakers should tilt towards Airbnb.”
A Northeastern University study in 2021 showed that Airbnb rentals raise violent crime rates in cities as long-term residents are pushed out. Several studies have shown that short-term rentals exacerbate the housing crisis by sapping available housing and contributing to increases in housing rental costs.
Today’s short-term rentals aren’t mom-and-pops trying to make their house payment. A 2020 report from The Wall Street Journal showed that only one-third such rentals are run by hosts with a single listing, one-third are run by investors with more than 25 listings, and one-third by investors with 2-25 listings. Typically, more than half are owned by investors who live outside the city.
Note, too, that Texas defines and taxes Airbnbs as hotels.
Ask anyone who has lived next to an Airbnb: They’ve seen 10-20 strangers with unknown backgrounds changing out every 2-3 nights. Extended family events, outdoor cookouts, music, bachelor parties most nights of the week. And if the rental has a pool and hot tub, activities continue well into the night.
Noise and nuisance ordinances have proved ineffective at preventing these disruptions. Would you want to live next to this with your family and kids?
The city of Fort Worth has found it difficult to enforce ordinances. However, many other cities have paved the way. It’s actually straightforward to hire outside firms to monitor illegal short-term rental activity and then target and shut down what are essentially illegal hotels.
City leaders could also follow the model of Denver and implement platform accountability to ensure that Airbnb and Vrbo only allow legal rentals to operate, or else directly fine the platform.
It’s much cheaper and more effective to enforce the ordinance now on hundreds of illegal rentals rather than later trying to enforce myriad rules and regulations upon thousands of rentals if they are allowed in residential neighborhoods.
A call to city leaders: Your first responsibility is to homeowners and voters of this city. Don’t be seduced by the empty claims of Airbnb lobbyists and short-term rental operators. Don’t allow the illegal activities of a few hundred renters to push the city to open its neighborhoods to commercial hotels and harm tens of thousands of residents.
If neighborhoods die, cities die. Promote healthy Fort Worth neighborhoods and enforce the existing ordinance. The future of Fort Worth neighborhoods depends on it.
