In recent years, many Michigan communities have tried to strike a balance on the issue of short-term rental properties. Some people see them as a useful service. Others see them as a good way to make money. And others see them as a nuisance… or worse.
Now, after a shooting at an Airbnb last month, the city of Birmingham in Oakland County will enact stricter regulations for short-term rentals.
Reporter Max Bryan covers Oakland County for The Detroit News. He joined Morning Edition host Doug Tribou.
Doug Tribou: Birmingham is a suburb of Detroit, population of just under 22,000. You note that there are about 100 short-term rentals in the city. Let's go back to how this all started. What happened at that Airbnb in Birmingham on April 11?
Max Bryan: There was a shooting the morning of April 11, and that was kind of a flashpoint incident. A bunch of neighbors kind of came out of the woodwork after the fact and came to the City Commission at the next meeting and said, "Look, guys, we've been raising the alarm about this particular property for, you know, weeks and months before this even happened." No one got injured or hurt, fortunately, but it was enough to make several people very upset. Understandably so.
DT: Can I ask you to describe the house and the neighborhood around it?
MB: It's just a very kind of nondescript house in a nice, little neighborhood.
DT: So we're really looking at a string of what would be single-family homes if they aren't short-term rentals?
MB: Correct. Yes.
DT: Do you have a sense of who's renting these houses and why?
MB: The corridor of Royal Oak, Troy, Birmingham, Clawson, it's a very kind of attractive bedroom area to Detroit, where you might be able to rent one of the properties and then get all of the big city perks of Detroit on your visit.
DT: After the shooting, city commissioners quickly instituted a 180-day moratorium on any new short-term rentals. How did residents and rental property owners react to that move?
MB: There were a couple of rental property owners — one of them actually spoke at the meeting — and he said it was a little too burdensome. Then I also spoke to the owner of several Airbnbs in Birmingham, and she actually said Airbnb, as a company, has been loosening their their policies over time, and that it was only kind of a matter of time before a flashpoint incident like this happened. So she didn't seem to be too upset about the moratorium.
Now, a host of residents, many of whom live nowhere near that property, came to the meeting and said, this is too little, too late.
DT: And so at that meeting on Monday night, the commission voted in favor of more permanent regulations. So what will change for short-term rental properties in the city now?
MB: Well, actually, the commission didn't even have to vote. The city attorney came in and said, these are things we can enact right now.
And to answer your question, the biggest thing is Mayor Clinton Baller said, "We are moving from a customer service approach to an enforcement approach," meaning when the cops would show up at these properties previously, the cops would just say, okay, maybe here's a citation. It doesn't really have any teeth. And how can we help you improve in this area?
Now, the police are ordered to keep a record of rental properties that have been problems over the course of a month. And each month they will meet with the fire department and with building services and code enforcement to discuss the course that they should take with those properties.
DT: In your reporting, you mentioned some other ideas that were floated, including requiring photo identification from the tenants to prove that the renter is 21 years of age or older. Where do any of those ideas stand? Are you expecting further action from the City Commission on the issue?
MB: Well, the Planning Commission is meeting next week to discuss if there's any more teeth that they can put into code enforcement and, potentially, law enforcement. And so that is yet to be seen.
DT: Max, what is your sense of the next steps in Birmingham at this point?
MB: It's pretty open-ended. I think the code, when it comes to short-term rentals, is only going to grow stricter and gain more teeth, as opposed to less, because that's what residents want.
Further reading: Birmingham will enact stricter regulations for short-term rentals and Birmingham enacts moratorium on short-term rentals, urges more regulations by Max Bryan for The Detroit News
Editor's note: Some quotes in this article have been lightly edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full conversation near the top of this page.
