Across rural Arizona, tourism is our lifeblood. Visitors fuel small businesses, sustain restaurants, and support the tax base that keeps our communities thriving. That is why we thank Representative Selina Bliss for accomplishing something no one has managed in more than a decade. She brought stakeholders, including Airbnb, to the table to begin a real conversation about short-term rental challenges.

While HB 2429 did not ultimately advance, the effort matters. It created space for dialogue, acknowledged the realities communities are facing, and demonstrated that progress is possible when people are willing to engage in good faith.

For rural Arizona’s tourism communities, this conversation is essential. Housing affordability is a statewide challenge, but its impact is especially acute in small destination towns. When a significant share of homes is purchased by investors and converted into short term rentals, the character and stability of neighborhoods begin to change. Streets that once housed teachers, nurses, hospitality workers, and first responders can gradually become corridors of revolving weekend guests.

It is important to remember the original intent behind Arizona’s short term rental laws. These policies were designed to help homeowners, particularly empty nesters and seniors with a guest house or spare bedroom, earn supplemental income. For retirees on fixed incomes, renting an extra room provided financial flexibility and security. The goal was to empower residents, not incentivize the bulk acquisition of single-family homes by corporations or investors.

In many communities today, the reality looks very different. Entire streets are increasingly owned not by local families but by remote investors whose primary connection to our towns is financial. As owner-occupied homes shift to investor-controlled properties, long term housing availability shrinks and prices rise in already limited markets.

Many residents describe this shift in a simple way. Neighborhoods begin to fill with neighborless neighbors. Homes are occupied, but not lived in. There is activity, but no continuity. Over time, the sense of community that defines our towns begins to fade.

We love sharing our communities. Rural Arizona offers extraordinary natural beauty, historic districts, vibrant arts scenes, and world class outdoor recreation. Tourism is not the problem. It is central to our identity and our economy. Visitors are not the enemy.

But when housing stock is increasingly absorbed into the short term rental markets at scale, the people who power our local economies struggle to remain as residents.

Consider what it means when police officers cannot afford to live where they patrol, when teachers commute long distances, or when hospitality workers, the backbone of our tourism industry, are priced out of the communities they serve. A healthy economy requires residents who can plant roots, volunteer in schools, join civic organizations, and invest in their neighborhoods.

This issue is not about banning short term rentals. It is about restoring balance and local empowerment. Rural communities vary widely in size, infrastructure capacity, and housing supply. Local leaders are best positioned to understand how many short-term rentals their housing markets can sustain without displacing essential workers or weakening neighborhood stability.

Representative Bliss’s efforts showed that collaboration is possible. That progress should not stop here. The conversation she started must continue, with a broader focus on both safety and housing availability.

We remain committed to welcoming visitors from across the country and around the world. Tourism enriches Arizona culturally and economically. But welcoming guests should not come at the expense of displacing neighbors or eroding the fabric of our communities.

Rural Arizona is ready to be part of the solution. We ask state leaders to continue this conversation and work with local communities to ensure that growth does not come at the expense of the people who call these places home. The cost of delay will not be measured in policy debates, but in the continued loss of housing, neighbors, and the stability our communities depend on.

Co-Authors: 

Holli Ploog, Mayor, City of Sedona

Cathey Rusing, Mayor, Prescott

Robyn Prudhomme Bauer, Mayor, Clarkdale

Tom Armstrong, Mayor, Chino Valley

Becky Daggett, Mayor, Flagstaff

Cal Sheehy, Mayor, Lake Havasu City

Don Dent, Mayor, Williams

Alex Barber, Mayor, Jerome

Ann Shaw, Mayor, Cottonwood

Ken Budge, Mayor, Bisbee