For Hillary Simpson and her family, including two young children, some nights are filled with disturbances. “My kids have been jolted awake in the middle of the night more than once,” she explained to WFTS. Simpson attributes these disruptions to constant noise from a short-term vacation rental located mere feet from her bedroom window in her Seminole, Florida, residence.
“I don’t have neighbors in the traditional sense,” she said. “What I have next door is a commercial operation.”
Simpson joined numerous others at a meeting last week to share their frustrations with Pinellas County commissioners. They argued that short-term rentals like those listed on Airbnb and VRBO reshape residential areas. According to these residents, many of these properties are being snapped up by corporate investors who purchase single-family homes throughout Florida and turn them into rental units, both short-term and long-term.
Representative Berny Jacques (R-Pinellas County) is well aware of this growing pattern. “In the Tampa Bay region alone, nearly 30,000 homes are owned by these corporations,” he noted. “Across the state, that number climbs to almost 120,000.”
Beyond the disturbances reported by homeowners like Simpson, Rep. Jacques highlighted how the surge in corporate-owned rentals is making it increasingly difficult—or even unattainable—for many Florida families to purchase homes. “When corporations hold so many properties, it reduces the available housing stock, driving up prices and putting homeownership out of reach,” he said.
With the legislative session approaching, Jacques, a Pinellas County Republican, has introduced House Bill 401. This bill would equip cities and counties with a new mechanism to address the issue by allowing local governments to rezone single-family neighborhoods. The goal is to deter large corporations from acquiring more residential real estate and converting them into rentals. If a municipality adopts the measure, the rezoning would target investors owning more than three properties.
“Our focus is on these big, institutional firms—many of which are based out of state,” Jacques emphasized. He believes this approach will help lower home prices and boost homeownership rates. “If we don’t act now, a decade from now, the supply of homes available to hardworking, everyday Floridians will be drastically limited,” he warned.
For Simpson, the legislation offers hope of safeguarding neighborhoods from the recurring disturbances she endures. “This is the first bill I’ve seen that genuinely considers the perspective of full-time residents in Florida’s communities,” she said.
However, the National Rental Home Council disagrees with the proposal. In a statement, the council argued, “By restricting access to quality, affordable housing options, Representative Jacques’ bill harms the very people who need homes most. Rather than pushing policies that exclude renters from neighborhoods, we should promote a diverse range of housing options, including opportunities for both homeownership and rentals, whether multifamily or single-family.”
House Bill 401 now has a companion bill in the Florida Senate. Jacques is currently working to arrange a committee hearing to advance the legislation.
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