Nantucket residents will clash Tuesday over whether short-term rentals should be legalized on their small island off the coast of Massachusetts.
After a bitter court battle between two island residents, Land Court Judge Michael Vhay ruled in March that a house was not permitted to be used primarily as a short-term rental in areas zoned for residential use.
This opened a legal gray area, but tomorrow residents will go to the Nantucket High School auditorium to vote on Article 59, which would legalize short-term rentals.
The main group against homeowners who list their picturesque homes on Airbnb is called Confirm nowan organization dedicated to preserving the quaint vibes of the coastal town of Nantucket.
Cabins in the harbor of Nantucket, Massachusetts, photographed on June 12, 2017
Left: Kathy Baird, co-founder of Nantucket Together, supports the effort to preserve vacation rentals. Right: Ack Now founder Peter McCausland favors restricting short-term rentals.
“As (short-term rentals) take over more and more homes in neighborhoods, they really destroy the community,” Ack Now founder Peter McCausland told the Boston Globe. ‘It’s a constant rotation. It’s like living next to a bunch of boutique hotels.’
Put Nantucket Neighborhoods First He is also against Article 59, claiming that it “will primarily benefit off-island investors and business interests.”
In the organization’s FAQ, short-term rentals are said to drive up housing prices, making housing completely unaffordable for the vast majority of people at a time when the island’s population ha grown by 40 percent during the last decade.
Real estate in Nantucket has always been expensive. The average home costs $2.6 million. Perhaps that is why this small and 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.
A Nantucket rental on Airbnb is a nine-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bathroom property that features a pool, tennis court, guest cabana, and its own private beach. All those amenities are not cheap: tenants shell out the money $10,000 per night.
For those with less money, Airbnb rentals in Nantucket can range from a single room from $159 per night still one bedroom, one bathroom cabin for $311 a night.
A Nantucket rental with nine bedrooms and seven and a half bathrooms that costs $10,000 a night on Airbnb
A view of the home of veteran Democratic politician John Kerry in Nantucket
This five-bedroom property with a picturesque backyard pool area will set you back $1,600 a night on Airbnb
Pictured is a slightly more affordable Nantucket vacation spot, costing $1,736 a night.
Eithne Yelle, who runs a wedding catering business, fears that if short-term rentals are banned her business will be doomed.
People 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 hurt the many business owners who rely on tourist money.
Kathy Baird, co-founder of Nantucket Together, supports the effort to preserve vacation rentals and said they are often the only way tourists can afford to come, since hotels cost a lot.
Since from 2022, Nantucket only had 800 rooms for tourists In all their hotels, inns and bed and breakfasts, local owners have hosted tourists for decades almost out of necessity.
Nantucket City Housing Director Tucker Holland said short-term rentals typically cover up to 85 percent of housing needs on a given night, according to Boston.com.
Eithne Yelle, owner of Nantucket Catering Company, fears her short-term rental wedding planning business will be hurt.
“We hope to pass on our (business) legacy to our children,” he told the Globe. “If it’s a wrong vote, it will be changed forever.”
He added that couples are already wary of booking weddings in 2025 pending the outcome of Tuesday’s vote.
A view of the exterior of the house at 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 with his family in Nantucket on Nov. 25, 2023. Biden was celebrating his 81st birthday.
Biden is seen again on Nantucket holding what appears to be a handshake.
Jenny Apthorp Paradis, a real estate agent who said her family owns and operates inns on the island, said renting to tourists is not just an economic necessity due to the lack of hotels, it’s a tradition.
“Long-time families like mine have owned summer homes here for decades and rented them out for part of the summer to pay the bills and preserve their property.” she wrote on facebook.
“We must adopt 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 in the municipal assembly,” Paradis continued. ‘Other summer resorts have been able to deal with it without having to close everything!’
For some, it’s even simpler.
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 United States. She also responded to the idea that restricting short-term rentals would preserve the community as before, an idea put forward by Ack Now and others.
“Limiting or restricting short-term rentals will not create year-round affordable housing or bring back the ‘good old days,'” he said in a note to residents posted on Facebook.
Charlene Nogueira, owner of Nantucket Cleaning Services, said if rents were severely restricted, it would not only hurt her business but would impede her right to use her home for income in the future.
“I have the right to do what I want with my house,” Nogueira told the Globe.
The measure that citizens will vote on at Tuesday’s annual meeting needs a two-thirds majority to pass, according to local reports.