Nantucket residents will speak out Tuesday on whether short-term rentals should be legalized on their small island off the coast of Massachusetts.
After a bitter lawsuit between two neighbors on the island, Judge Michael Vhay ruled in March that using a house primarily for short-term rentals was not allowed in areas zoned for residential use.
This opened up a legal gray area — but tomorrow, residents will head to the Nantucket High School auditorium to vote on Section 59, which would legalize short-term rentals.
The main group against homeowners who put their picturesque homes on Airbnb is called Confirm nowan organization dedicated to preserving the scenic coastal atmosphere of Nantucket.
Harbor cottages in Nantucket, Massachusetts, pictured on June 12, 2017
Left: Kathy Baird, co-founder of Nantucket Together, supports efforts to preserve vacation rental properties. Right: Peter McCausland, founder of Ack Now, which supports restrictions on short-term rentals
“As (short-term rentals) take over more and more homes in neighborhoods, they’re really disrupting the community,” Ack Now founder Peter McCausland told the Boston Globe. ‘It’s a constant turnover. It’s like living next to a bunch of boutique hotels.”
Put Nantucket neighborhoods first also opposes Article 59, claiming that it will ‘primarily benefit foreign investors and commercial interests’.
The organization’s FAQ states that short-term rentals are driving up house prices, making housing completely out of reach for the vast majority of people at a time when the island’s population grown by 40 percent the past ten years.
Nantucket real estate has always been pricey – the average home costs $2.6 million – which may be why the small, exclusive island has long attracted celebrities and the elite.
Kourtney Kardashian, Ben Stiller, James Franco, Drew Barrymore and even President Joe Biden are among the rich and famous who have been spotted on Nantucket over the years.
One Nantucket rental on Airbnb is a nine-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bath estate with a pool, tennis court, guesthouse and its own private beach. All these amenities don’t come cheap – with renters looking for a home $10,000 per night.
For those with shallower pockets, Airbnb rentals in Nantucket can come from anywhere a single room from $159 per night to a one-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage for $311 per night.
A Nantucket rental with nine bedrooms and seven and a half bathrooms for $10,000 per night on Airbnb
A view of longtime Democrat John Kerry’s home in Nantucket
This five-bedroom home with a picturesque backyard pool will cost you $1,600 per night on Airbnb
There’s a slightly cheaper vacation spot pictured in Nantucket, at $1,736 per night
Eithne Yelle, who runs a wedding catering business, fears that if short-term rentals are banned, her business will be doomed
Those on the other side of the debate believe that short-term rentals are vital to Nantucket’s economy and that the proposal to ban most of them would harm the many business owners who rely on tourism dollars.
Kathy Baird, co-founder of Nantucket Together, supports efforts to preserve vacation rentals and said it’s often the only way tourists can afford to come because hotels cost so much.
Considering that from 2022 Nantucket had only 800 rooms for tourists Local homeowners have been hosting vacationers in hotels, inns and bed and breakfasts for decades, practically out of necessity.
Nantucket Municipal Housing Director Tucker Holland said short-term rentals can usually cover as much as 85 percent of lodging needs on a given night, according to Boston.com.
Eithne Yelle, owner of Nantucket Catering Company, fears her business of hosting weddings in short-term rentals will be damaged.
“We hope to pass on our (business) legacy to our children,” she told the Globe. “If it’s the wrong vote, it will be changed forever.”
She added that couples are already wary of booking weddings in 2025 ahead of the outcome of Tuesday’s vote.
A view of the exterior of the house during the Mentor Brunch at the 2018 Nantucket Film Festival – Day 4 on June 23, 2018 in Nantucket
Sailboats are moored in Nantucket Harbor
President Joe Biden visits local stores in Nantucket with family on November 25, 2023. Biden celebrated his 81st birthday
Biden is spotted again in Nantucket appearing to shake something in his hand
Jenny Apthorp Paradis, a real estate agent who said her family owned and operated inns on the island, said renting to tourists is not only an economic necessity because of the lack of hotels, but a tradition.
“Families like mine have owned summer homes here for decades and rent their homes out for part of the summer to pay the bills to keep their properties.” she wrote on Facebook.
“We should pass Article 59 to simply codify our tradition of being a summer resort for more than a century, and then make the changes we want through simple majority articles on the City Council,” Paradis continued. “Other summer resorts have been able to solve it without shutting everything down!”
For some it is even easier.
Penny Dey, a Nantucket resident who is also a real estate agent, believes the right to rent is the cornerstone of property rights in the US. She also returned to the idea that limiting short-term rentals would preserve the community as it once was, an idea put forth by Ack Now and others.
“Limiting or restricting short-term rentals will not create affordable, year-round housing or revive the ‘good old days,’” it said. a note for the residents posted on Facebook.
Charlene Nogueira, owner of Nantucket Cleaning Services, said if rents were severely capped, it would not only hurt her business but also hinder her right to use her home for income in the future.
“It’s my right to do whatever I want with my house,” Nogueira told the Globe.
According to local reports, a two-thirds majority is needed for the measure that the townspeople will vote on at Tuesday’s annual meeting.