Hoover City Council approves ordinance restricting certain short-term rentals

HOOVER, Ala. (WBRC) - The Hoover City Council passed an ordinance 5-2 Monday night that will restrict certain short-term rentals in the city.

The ordinance restricts short-term rentals like Airbnb’s or Vrbo’s for less than 30 days in single-family, residential areas. Short-term rentals would only be allowed to operate in apartments, condos, and commercial areas.

City leaders say their goal is to make sure folks in Hoover feel safe and comfortable in their neighborhoods, whereas short-term rental owners feel the ordinance is a government overreach.

The last time we spoke with city leaders, they said this ordinance doesn’t ban short-term rentals in Hoover, but it lets Airbnb, or any short-term rental business, know what areas of town they can operate and for how long.

When we spoke with short-term rental owners, they said they felt like the city was infringing on their property rights.

This has sparked Airbnb officials responsible for Alabama to reach out to some city councilors asking them to vote against the ordinance, saying in a statement that reads in part:

“Hosting on Airbnb is an important source of supplemental income for families in the city of Hoover that rely on it to support themselves and build economic independence. We welcome the opportunity to work with the city.”

“Let us help you come up with a solution, to me that’s what city government is. That they would be coming up with solutions and working with business partners instead of just coming up and all of the sudden saying, hey we don’t like it, so we are going to get rid of it,”, Hoover short-term rental owner Dale Callahan said.

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