Short-term rentals change landscape of neighborhood for permanent residents

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — From just about every direction, Vivian Gornick’s townhouse in East Nashville is surrounded by short term rentals.

“There’s this kind of lack of community, like you don’t know who your neighbors are, because they rotate weekly,” Gornick said.

Gornick moved to Nashville during the recovery from the 2020 tornadoes. To her surprise, much of the new construction in her neighborhood became short term rentals, leaving her and other residents with fewer options for long-term rentals.

“Short term rentals are very directly related to gentrification,” Gornick said. “All of the short-term rentals, they’re tall and skinnies, they all look the same. It has this effect of kind of whitewashing a neighborhood in a way, like gentrification gray, the color that all of these seem to be painted. The neighborhood loses its character.”

Coincidentally Gornick is living what she studies and teaches to college students.

“I’ve got a PhD in cultural anthropology, and I focus specifically on the impacts of tourism on communities and cultures, so looking at things like how gentrification impacts families and communities,” Gornick said.

While there are positives that come with new development, such as tax revenue and new businesses, Gornick said it’s often people who don’t live in the community who are cashing in.

“On the one hand it’s great that we’re investing in neighborhoods, but it’s usually outside investors who are flipping houses and then reaping the benefits of that,” Gornick said.

Airbnb reported last year it remitted $18 million in sales and occupancy taxes to Davidson County.

Legislation passed by Metro Council in 2015 requires 1% of the occupancy tax go to the Barnes Housing Trust Fund, which supports affordable housing development. More than 4,700 units have been constructed since the fund’s inception in 2013. But for musicians like Dylan Taylor, it’s not enough.

“I’ve bounced around and moved about every year for like, 10 years, just getting priced out of different situations,” Taylor said.

Taylor has seen short term rentals sprout up around her. She started volunteering with the organization Stand Up Nashville to advocate to Metro Council on behalf of underserved communities affected by growth.

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“I’m not blaming the tourists or the new people, because they don’t know they’re a victim of these developers and these business people buying these short-term rentals in these lower-income communities,” Taylor said. “People have been foreclosed on or displaced because of the gentrification, and then they’re tearing down one house building like three or four more in its place.”

Taylor said that opens the door to crime.

“Now these wealthy tourists are a target for anybody who’s desperate,” Taylor said.

Taylor and Gornick agree the solution isn’t no development or no short-term rentals, but instead smarter development that puts the needs of residents before tourists.

In a survey by the Alliance for Stronger Communities, 75% of Tennessee voters said lawmakers should prioritize the interests of homeowners and renters in residential areas above those of out-of-state commercial investors.

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