TO a IRB n B, OR NOT TO AIRB nB

That is the question for the Dallas City Council

Story by RENEE UMSTED | Photography by EMIL LIPPE

JEFF VEAZEY and Dolores Serroka have lived in their respective neighborhoods for decades, each wanting their communities to remain quiet and peaceful. They are civically engaged and have spent years advocating for good housing practices.

But they represent opposing sides of a debate that has plagued the Dallas government for years and divided the city’s residents.

It’s the debate over short-term rentals.

Veazey, a former housing attorney, and his wife own a STR , a garage apartment in the back of their property in Old Lake Highlands; they say it helps them pay their property taxes. Serroka, who worked in the hotel industry for 35 years, lives in Peak’s Suburban Addition next door to a STR in fear that her property will be damaged or stolen by guests.

Task forces have been created and countless committee meetings scheduled to discuss how STRs — which are rented for no more than 30 days at a time — should be regulated and where they should be allowed. District 14 City Council member PAUL RIDLEY made preserving single-family neighborhoods a campaign promise, and keeping STRs out of residential areas has become one of his priorities. Groups have formed against and in support of STRs, which include listings on platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo. Members of the public, many of them wearing “HOMES NOT HOTELS” T-shirts, spent hours during an April city council meeting speaking about STRs. Yard signs bearing the same message are common throughout the city.

Yet the city council has not voted on zoning and registration ordinances, despite years of calls from residents to settle the issue. In the meantime, the thousands of STRs in Dallas continue to operate.

“They’re not doing anything to give us relief,” Serroka says.