By Nadia Ramlagan
Public Intelligence Service
Eastern Kentucky communities are struggling with a rapidly expanding short-term rental housing market.
This year, the city of Stanton in the Red River Gorge was ranked the seventh most profitable city in the country for short-term rental investment by AirDNA, a website that collects data on Airbnb market trends.
Jessa Turner, owner of HomeGrown HideAways, which operates several Airbnbs on a 100-acre farm in Berea, said the city has supported her as her short-term rentals have grown to host travelers from 46 states and 38 countries. Most, she said, want to “get away from it all” and enjoy the area’s outdoor recreational activities.
“Our community is very supportive,” Turner noted. “The Berea Tourism Board in particular promotes us on their Facebook page and website. We promote all the local events and have a bulletin board here at the farm.”
The Mountain Association has compiled a list of resources for communities on short-term rentals, including Out of Reach, a database that breaks down rental affordability for low-income households by region, and a toolkit from Airbnb to help local policymakers develop fair short-term rental policies.
Amanda Haney, building and planning commissioner for the city of Berea, said her college town has had success with Airbnbs after six years of allowing them under certain conditions. She noted that the city recently changed zoning regulations to make it easier for some property owners to operate short-term rentals.
“Now all you have to do is sign up for it, and you’re basically allowed in these apartment neighborhoods,” Haney explained. “But we’ve kept these restrictions in single-family neighborhoods because we think it’s important to preserve the character of the neighborhood.”
Turner added that affordable housing is scarce in parts of the region that have been affected by flooding and other natural disasters. She supports regulations to limit single-family homes as short-term rentals, noting that since the pandemic, many homes have been snapped up by developers who want to use them for rentals.
“I don’t believe that single-family homes in residential neighborhoods need to be bought up and rented out for short-term rentals,” Turner said. “I think these affordable single-family homes should remain, as they were intended.”
The Kentucky Tourism Industry Association and the League of Cities are actively suing Airbnb for tax collection issues, claiming that out of 16 short-term rentals in the city of Berea, only one has actively paid taxes.
