NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Nashville Airbnb hosts made a pretty penny collectively in 2022.
According to the short-term rental giant, Music City hosts raked in over $260 million from visitors from all over.
That reward comes at a cost, however, and East Nashville residents are fed up with what disruptive guests are doing in their neighborhoods.
This includes Maxwell Heights resident Blu Sanders, who got a rude awakening Thursday morning.
“[I] Woke up to what I thought was just a car crash,” Sanders said.
Sanders peeked out the window and found a car on top of what used to be his fence. By the time he got outside, the driver was gone. Later that morning, he’d spot someone checking it out.
“He’s checking out the damage, that’s the guy,” Sanders said.
Sanders tracked down the car he says hit his fence. He says the driver was staying at a nearby Airbnb, less than a block away from where it happened.
“Most of the Airbnbs over here are non-owner-occupied Airbnbs,” Sanders said.
He says in the past two years or so, the block in his Maxwell Heights neighborhood has been the wild west.
“I mean we’ve had multiple shootings on this block,” Sanders said. “And they’re still here. This is just a different universe on the other side of the street.”
Between shootings and parties, Sanders says the cops have been called nearly half a dozen times in recent memory. While we spoke with him, we also ran into a contractor fixing up the remains of a floor collapse in a short-term rental across the street.
“I’m not anti-Airbnb, but Airbnb is absent, the owners are absent, and there’s problems,” Sanders said.
The real problem, Sanders says, is the lack of consequences for the owners. He says no matter what happens across the street, whether it be a shooting, or party, the owners don’t lose the license to operate it.
“What’s a neighbor supposed to do?” he asked.
Besides filing a police report, Nashville residents can send complaints in to Airbnb directly, and also to the city, on HubNashville. Sanders also recommends contacting the owners if possible to try and alleviate the situation.
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