What Now For Short-Term Rentals?

To the editor: That is the question so many are asking. I wish I knew the answer. Word has it that the mini hotels and the real estate folks are busy getting signatures for a Special Town Meeting where they think they can pass another article like the other six articles rejected by voters – one which could turn Nantucket into a rental park in short order. Believe it or not, we have some strong supporters in the real estate community on Nantucket. However, 35 percent of NAREB full members are off-island real estate companies – not something they advertise!

I do know what ACK Now is doing. We are reaching out to influential year-round residents to discuss a potential compromise that protects the right to rent one’s home and preserves residential neighborhoods- a compromise that can mitigate the housing crisis and the other significant burdens placed on Nantucket by short-term rentals. We are also formulating a plan both to support such a compromise should one take shape, and to fight those pushing for unrestricted STRs everywhere on the island.

Does anyone think that the Planning Board was surprised by the responses they got from their survey, showing that a sizable majority of residents think the quality of life on Nantucket has gotten worse since they arrived and they believe it will continue to get worse in the next five years? Interestingly, the greatest attraction of Nantucket for the respondents was the community, which is directly threatened by lack of zoning enforcement and unrestricted short-term rentals.

This past Wednesday, protests against too much tourism and short-term rentals took place in 25 European cities. Residents are watching their communities slip away, and they have had enough! How much worse can it get on Nantucket before more residents start to speak out against the scourge of short-term rentals?

George H. Spencer III

Spencer serves on the ACK Now Board of Directors.