There are thousands of towns in America who are having this issue. Short term leasing and even long term leasing is a change in the way housing is used. And its a change in the local economics of every town.
The reality is that short term leasers normally come in and fix up the property. I know this doesn’t always happen. I have seen places in LA where they housed 12 people each with their own lease in a 2 bedroom range where even the garage was divided into three bedrooms. Normally the renters are illegals. paying cash by the week.
But the most common situation in most towns are AirB&Bs that sell weekends to tourists. Somebody comes in and rents for a couple nights a week. Which is enough to pay the property taxes and maybe the mortgage if there is one.
They are driving up property taxes because they are driving up property values. And that is where the profit is. Holding the land they are not looking for too much monthly profits. Many are just waiting for the land values to increase. Then sell the land a decade later for a lot more money.
If you want your house value to go up its great. In LA and San Francisco property values are still increasing as drug addicts and poop fill the streets. Same is true in Portland and Vancouver.
The issue is that these places need to be regulated. They need to be inspected. And they need to pay taxes. AirB7B does everything it can to help its renters hide from local governments. And often the local governments have people on the board who are AirB&B renters without disclosing it.
This is the second post of yours today that I found very useful and informative. Thank you.