FLAWED RATIONALE

 The attack on Short-term Rentals Flawed Rationale and Substantial Economic Risk 

“Nantucket Together” is a recently formed coalition of concerned taxpayers, including year round and part-time residents, those who conduct short term rentals and those who do not, all of whom love the island and want to preserve its way of life. Attempts are being made to divide us, pursuing an island wide attack against short-term rentals using the affordable housing crisis as one excuse, excessive traffic, noise and overcrowding with no alternative solutions yet provided. Ultimately such actions are likely to harm affordable housing by reducing tax revenue & vacation spending crucial to Nantucket.   Nantucket is suffering from quality of life issues resulting of being 'loved to death' - a 'seasonal density of use' issue....a problem much larger than and perhaps not highly aligned with STRs.

Also, all homeowners on island should beware. Residency status on this island has always been fluid as year rounders become part-timers and vice versa. If all property is encumbered by a rental restriction unique to Nantucket, it will harm real estate values. All values. It's unknown how much. Maybe it's 2%, maybe 10%. But a unique restriction on how you can use your home, not applicable in Hyannis, not applicable in Martha's Vineyard or the Hamptons, is not good. And what happens if your wife or husband gets a job offer off island for a couple years, and you become part-time resident for a period of time? Or you intend to give your home to a son or daughter, who marries or takes a job off island but wants to bring their children during vacations, then rent at other times? Suddenly, your or their ability to rent will be restricted, which may threaten their ability to hold on to that property. 

 
On reflection, are those proposing changes to reduce traditional family-operated STRs really pushing restrictive proposals to fix island qualify of life issues, or are they serving as a Trojan Horse for another agenda by some, to restrict access to Nantucket to those who do not and never will need to rent their homes? Do we want Nantucket to become a gated community populated seasonally by only the ultra-wealthy and those who serve them or is the diversity of the current community something to be cherished and preserved?