Nantucket held yet another Special Town Meeting in September, the focus of which was more articles related to short-term rentals. There were originally 6 citizen articles submitted which resulted in the Select Board forming a group of the article sponsors to try, once again, to come up with a “compromise article” (Article 1), for consideration at STM. Nantucket has already adopted regulations for the short-term rental of one’s private home including limiting properties strictly owned by corporations from renting on a short-term basis, institution of a local rental registry (that has had challenges getting up and running), which includes a local hotline where people can report bad behavior (2 calls all summer, only one of which was about a short-term rental property). Article 1 failed to garner the 2/3 votes necessary to pass and it is clear that the community is not interested in any more regulations.
One has to ask what exactly is the problem that we are trying to solve? Of the 12,600 dwelling units on Nantucket, only 1,758 owners filed with the state for renting on a short-term basis in 2022, the last year for which this information was available.
We are looking forward to more data in the first quarter of 2025, including the updated information from the Nantucket Association of Real Estate Brokers which will show a steady decline in the number of rentals since the height of the pandemic. Short-term rentals are not the cause of all of Nantucket’s problems – there is a traffic issue on-island in February. What is driving everything is the popularity of Nantucket; people want to spend time here. The vast majority of houses on Nantucket are owned by people who do not live here year-round and these properties need a high level of service (by the people who do live here year-round). Nantucket’s economy is, and has been for well over 100 years, based on tourism.