North Carolina Alliance for Neighborhood Prosperity

Our mission is to:

• Provide visitors with a variety of housing choices and the opportunity to experience diverse North Carolina neighborhoods
• Preserve, repair, and restore residential housing stock
• Promote economic opportunities for local neighborhoods while preserving or improving the overall quality of life.

We are working to legalize and regulate private home rentals in a fair, reasonable, and equitable manner.

A private home rental is a private residence that is rented to guests or tenants for any amount of time.

We believe that most of the issues attributed to short-term home rentals have other causes, or can also be attributed to hotels, motels, B&Bs, long-term rentals, and owner-occupied residences. We believe that any specific problems directly attributable to private home rentals can be addressed, resolved, or eliminated by reasonable operating regulations.

We support reasonable minimum safety standards for all private home rentals, including B&Bs.

Private home rental property owners and tenants must be responsible and accountable to each other, to neighbors, and to neighborhoods. Tenants should receive a “Code of Conduct” or other guide notifying them of noise, parking, and other ordinances or restrictions they will be expected and required to follow. Owners or property managers should be available to respond to problems and address them promptly.

We challenge unsupported assertions that private home rentals are the sole, primary, or even substantial cause of many of the issues, problems, and changes that have affected various North Carolina neighborhoods in recent years. For example, while rising property values and rental rates may affect neighborhoods (both positively and negatively), private home rentals should receive neither the credit nor the blame for such changes without reliable supporting data.

We disagree with the assertion that short-term rentals negatively impact the availability of affordable housing. In fact, short-term rentals actually improve access to housing. People on fixed incomes may be empowered to retain home ownership with the added income from a short-term rental in a portion of their home. Transitional neighborhoods may benefit economically from the introduction of short-term rentals, with the financial outlay of hosts and guests for goods and services procured within that neighborhood.

We challenge the idea that individuals have the right to choose their neighbors or prevent their neighbors from using their properties in a reasonable legal manner. While some owners and residents want to know all of their neighbors or lament the changes in their neighborhoods, other owners and residents enjoy meeting visitors and acting as good will ambassadors for their community. While private home rental operators and their tenants should respect their neighbors and comply with the law, those neighbors should respect private home owners’ rights to rent and manage their properties, subject to reasonable regulations.

We realize that, while there are differences between the various types of private home rentals (including traditional B&B’s), they each have their own appeal to diverse travelers, and none of these options are inherently detrimental to the community or to Big Lodging. Our experience is that some guests specifically prefer the availability of onsite hosts, while others value their privacy and prefer to be left on their own. It is always good to have choices. The owners and operators of all private home rentals (including traditional B&Bs) and their tenants should be responsible and accountable to each other, to neighbors, and to neighborhoods.

We challenge the argument that short-term rentals are inherently different from longer rental periods. The issue is not the length of stay, but the behavior of the owners and tenants. Complaints of loud parties, illegal parking, and other problems are not limited to private home rental properties and are regulated by other ordinances.

We support the enforcement of reasonable regulations.

We respect neighborhood groups, and believe they should be required to demonstrate that the views and positions they take actually reflect the views and positions of the property owners, residents, and businesses they claim to represent. Without such data, it is inappropriate for such groups to take any formal position relative to private home rentals – whether for or against.

We support consideration of the views and concerns of professional organizations such as the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association in determining what regulations may be reasonable and appropriate. We oppose consideration of the views and concerns of such organizations when the objective is to eliminate competition or to obtain or preserve an unfair competitive advantage.

We support consideration of the views and concerns of neighbors of private home rentals in determining what regulations may be reasonable and appropriate. We oppose the consideration of the specific views and concerns of specific neighbors relative to specific private home rentals as evidence of a broader problem that relates to many, most, or all private home rentals. The solution to specific problems is to adopt reasonable enforceable regulations which address those specific problems.

We support consideration of the views and concerns of property owners and property managers who operate or want to operate private home rentals, including traditional B&Bs. While some may be directly represented the North Carolina Alliance for Neighborhood Prosperity, others may wish to present their own views separately.

As North Carolina is a prime visitor destination, we support consideration of the wants, needs, and desires of our “customers” and “clients.” These include tourists, visitors coming for special events (festivals, graduations, weddings), business travelers (job applicants, people seeking to permanently relocate, movie industry workers and performers), and visitors for other reasons (hospital patients, adoptive parents). The undisputed fact that private home rentals exist in increasing numbers is persuasive evidence that there is a very substantial demand for different visitor housing choices, including the option to stay in private home rentals.