The city council of the American Dream City of Arlington, Texas is about to ban short term rentals across the city.
This ban will effectively wipe out approximately 90% of STRs in Arlington. Only a small group of houses near AT&T Stadium will now qualify for "the safe zone" and any STR in that zone will continue to be allowed to operate. If you see discrimination here, you're right. If you see an unconstitutional act here, you're right.
Thanks to some crotchety boneheadedness, incessant whining, scare tactics, and mis-directed hype, this delusional ban has been created under the guise of "bad actor" short term rental guests and unfairly characterized all of them as porn stars and party-goers. (If that's really the case, why not just ban all STRs period?) The city is just all warm and chummy with hotel$ (must be that hotels don't house party-goers, right?) but interestingly STRs are NOT OK SO THEY WILL BE BANNED. Apparently, there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than Arlington citizens know, with people in power posturing and pressuring for profit. The mayor publicly called this all a great compromise. A compromise for whom?
Shall we consider property rights? The city is basically violating the property rights of ALL home owners in Arlington by telling them they cannot rent their homes out on a short-term basis. Not that every homeowner would want to rent their property, but it's the fact that they are being told they cannot even if they choose to do so.
Moreover, the city has failed to notify short term rental owners who will be affected by this. Many people don't even know this ban will happen. Some of their livelihoods will be destroyed, as they rely on rentals to help pay mortgages, run their businesses, etc. And, tourism within the city will take a hit as visitors to the city will be deprived of accommodations they've already made.
The ban is about to go into effect and the city plans to severely penalize anyone who doesn't comply. There is a small group of owners who are attempting to raise funds to sue the city and obtain an injunction against the ban so short term rental owners can stay in business and continue hosting guests, many who have already spent a lot of money on airfare, rental cars, tickets, etc for trips in the coming months.
If you are a STR owner and/or a citizen concerned about your property rights being restricted, please donate to help fight the ban at StartMovement.org:
Donations received at this site will be directed to the Stop the Bans Legal Fund. These funds will be used to sue for justice in response to the gross denial of property rights, due process, and equal protection under the law for short term rentals perpetrated by the City of Arlington and other cities across the state of Texas. Funds may also be used to lobby government entities in the pursuit of reasonable regulations and policies for short term rentals.
FYI, the city has also created STR regulations which, for the most part, are GOOD. It's the ban that is the problem and it needs to be lifted ASAP.
