DEARBORN, Mich. – Dearborn officials will soon vote on banning short-term rentals in residential areas and restricting renters to the two downtown districts.
This would prohibit services like Airbnb in single-family homes and residential zones.
City officials said residents have made it clear that they don’t want Airbnb services in their neighborhoods, disrupting the peace.
“I don’t like to have Airbnb in my neighborhood because the potential for people renting them just for parties and then disrupting our peace and quiet, it gets a little crazy,” Dearborn resident Rita Leap Heart Coleman said.
Dearborn City Council President Micheal Sareini said this ban has been a long time coming.
“The zoning approach to this -- to zone this more towards the downtown areas, where people are more likely to frequent restaurants and other places when they’re in town -- the aspect of renting a place and not having an ownership aspect to it for 1 or 2 days causes problems in our neighborhoods,” Sareini said.
Sareini has emphasized that the goal is to have the fairest solution for both residents in the neighborhoods and the homeowners who are renting out their homes.
There are roughly 50-75 Airbnb properties in Dearborn, and city officials estimate that one-third of them would be affected by this zoning approach.
The voting is set to happen around 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, July 15.
“We want to be fair,” Sareini said. “We don’t believe in picking and choosing winners and losers. We want to protect our residents, and the zoning aspect is the best way.”
You can watch the full interview with Sareini in the video at the top of this page.