In the News
How Two of America’s Wealthiest Vacation Spots Are Fighting to Find Homes for Locals
(Nov. 14, 2023) Although an island 30 miles off the coast of New England may not appear similar to a famous ski resort in the hear of the Rockies, both are popular high-end tourist destinations with buildable limited by the ocean, conservation land and National Forest. They differ in climate, outdoor activities and seasons as Vail is a year round tourist destination and Nantucket is not but this article lays out the shared and unique challenges of each town regarding how they are approaching housing their local workforce.
Study: Rules on Short-Term Rentals in Provincetown unlikely to reduce home prices or rents
(Nove. 2, 2023) The median condominium price in Provincetown would have to fall by as much as 70% to be affordable for someone earning the area median income.
The revelation is included in a review of short-term rental regulations and implications for Provincetown, prepared by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute Economic and Public Policy Research Group. Assistant Town Manager Dan Riviello called it one of the more "harrowing" findings.
"That really showed us that we're going to have to do a lot of work to not only try to increase the number of year-round rentals but we're going to have to put some money behind building more units so there's a greater supply that people will have access to that are below what the real estate market would call for," said Riviello Wednesday.
Last year, the town had been discussing with the Select Board the need to do a study to understand the impact of short-term rentals in town. Then, during the annual town meeting in April, some citizen petitions were brought forward about short-term rentals.
Riviello said it showed that there was disagreement and some misunderstanding from the public about how short-term rentals impact the town, further underlining the need for the study.
Summer rentals down 25 percent
(June 8, 2023) The boom in the Nantucket summer rental market over the last two years appears to be in the rear-view mirror, according to data produced by the Nantucket Association of Real Estate Brokers.
Summer rentals islandwide are down 25 percent so far this year after a 27 percent jump from 2019 to 2021 and an 8 percent drop last year.
Carrots and sticks: Vacation rentals and the creation of affordable, workforce housing
More communities across the nation are coming up with creative solutions that leverage vacation rentals to boost affordable and workforce housing stocks.
“As rent and mortgage prices continue to skyrocket, policymakers are really looking for anything they can do to alleviate the housing crisis,” said Noah Stewart, head of advocacy at Expedia Group. “While short-term rentals have been repeatedly shown to have a very minimal effect on rents, mortgages, and the overall availability of housing stock, local officials continue to target them as broader housing issues continue to grow.”
Why Isn't The STR Workgroup Considering Other Options?
It's twice now that island voters have rejected zoning changes to allow full-time STRs to operate anywhere on the Island. The STR workgroup must think that three times is the charm because its draft articles propose the same thing.
The workgroup is spending hours discussing how many STRs any human being can have on Nantucket and how to protect all existing corporate STRs, and the centerpiece of the proposal is plain and simple: to gut our residential zoning.
Mr. President, What Options Does ACK Now Want, Specifically?
To the editor: Carl Jelleme, President of ACKNow and the owner of the largest heavy construction company on the island, recently opined in the Nantucket Current that the Short Term Rental Work Group (STRWG) is not doing enough to restrict short-term rentals, in similar fashion to Emily Kilvert’s letter in the May 25th Inquirer & Mirror. His inflammatory attack denigrates the draft proposals of the STRWG saying, “...the centerpiece of the proposal is plain and simple: to gut our residential zoning.”.
He goes further to make unfounded allegations that the Work Group is beholden to “real estate lobbies and commercial STR interests”. He demands that the Work Group, Select Board, Planning Board, and Finance Committee “....should disclose their financial interests tied to STRs”.