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Tuesday, September 17, 2024

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TX League of Women Voters participates in National Voter Registration Day; Trump's golf outings have long concerned Secret Service; Palm Beach County schools tackle post-pandemic chronic absenteeism; College students press Israeli divestment campaign as the school year begins.

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Washington considers the need to tone down anti-Trump rhetoric. Senate Democrats are likely to force a second vote on a national right to in-vitro fertilization, and Trump allies repeat falsehoods about migrants amid bomb threats in OH.

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Rural voters weigh competing visions about agriculture's future ahead of the Presidential election, counties where economic growth has lagged in rural America are booming post-pandemic, and farmers get financial help to protect their land's natural habitat.

As KY short-term rentals thrive, housing affordability concerns persist

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Monday, August 12, 2024   

Eastern Kentucky communities are grappling with a ballooning short-term rental market.

This year, the town of Stanton in the Red River Gorge was ranked as the seventh-most profitable in the country to invest in a short-term rental by AirDNA, a website compiling data on Airbnb market trends.

Jessa Turner, owner of HomeGrown HideAways, which operates several Airbnbs on a 100-acre farm in Berea, said the city has been supportive as her short-term rentals have grown to host travelers from 46 states and 38 countries, most, she said, to get "off the grid" and enjoy the area's outdoor recreation.

"Our community supports us big time," Turner observed. "Berea tourism, especially, they promote us on their Facebook page and on their website. We promote all the local events, we have a bulletin board here on the farm."

The Mountain Association has compiled a list of short-term rental resources for communities, including Out of Reach, a database breaking down rental affordability for low-income households by region; and a toolkit by Airbnb to help local policymakers develop fair short-term rental regulations.

Amanda Haney, codes and planning administrator for the City of Berea, said her college town has seen success with Airbnbs, after six years of requiring they be conditionally permitted. She noted the city has recently changed zoning regulations to make it easier for some property owners to pursue short-term rentals.

"Now you just register for them, basically approved in those rental-type neighborhoods," Haney explained. "But we still left those restrictions on single-family residential neighborhoods, because we think it's important to preserve the character of the neighborhood."

Turner added in parts of the region that have experienced flooding and other natural disasters, affordable housing is scarce. She favors regulations to rein in single-family homes as short-term rentals, noting since the pandemic, many homes have been bought up by developers who want to use them for rentals.

"I don't feel like single-family homes in neighborhoods need to be bought up and rented for short-term rentals," Turner emphasized. "I think that those should stay affordable housing for single families, as they were intended to be."

The Kentucky Tourism Industry Association and League of Cities are actively suing Airbnb over tax collection issues, saying of 16 short-term rentals within the City of Berea, only one was actively paying taxes.


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Toledo's Dorr Street once boasted more than 130 businesses between Collingwood Blvd. and Detroit Ave., including retail shops, restaurants, lodging, medical offices, entertainment venues, and services like auto repair, laundry and beauty salons. (Wikimedia Commons)

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Early voting for the upcoming general election runs from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. (Rob Goebel/Adobe Stock)

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