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rizona’s Court of Appeals issued a unanimous ruling this fall that sharply curtails local authority over short‑term rentals. The decision reaffirmed 2017’s SB 1350, which bars cities from outright bans or broad restrictions on Airbnbs, VRBOs, and similar platforms.

    Cities across the state, grappling with soaring housing costs and dwindling inventory, have pushed to limit where, when, and how many homes can be converted into short‑term rentals. Critics argue that these rentals pull units out of the long‑term market, tightening supply at a time of rising demand. Yet the 2017 law, a relic of a different era, still stands in the way.

    Arizona’s population has grown 6 % since the 2020 Census, ranking fifth nationally for numeric growth. The state’s housing supply has lagged, earning a “C” in a recent nationwide affordability report and revealing a shortage of roughly 270,000 units. Price gains illustrate the strain: Flagstaff’s median home price rose 62 % since 2019, Sedona 49.5 %, Tucson 45.3 %, and Phoenix 42.2 %.

    In response, the Pima County Board of Supervisors, overseeing the Tucson metro, formally requested authority to regulate short‑term rentals. Supervisor Jennifer Allen, representing Tucson’s District 3, noted the city hosts at least 6,000 rentals—90 % of which are single‑family homes. She emphasized the need for local governments to decide where and when rentals make sense.

    Despite such appeals, the Court of Appeals rejected Sedona’s attempt to block a mobile‑home park from converting units into short‑term rentals. The city argued that local zoning should prevent the conversion, but the court upheld SB 1350’s prohibition on broad limits. The ruling raised fears that residents of the park could be displaced in favor of nightly guests. Sedona’s communications director, Lauren Brown, warned that such conversions bypass local zoning and threaten affordable long‑term housing for vulnerable residents.

    This issue is not isolated to Sedona. Nationwide, mobile‑home park residents face heightened eviction risk when parks are sold to investors. In Florida, eviction filings jumped 40 % in the months following a park sale, according to Princeton’s Eviction Lab.

    Thus, while Arizona’s cities seek tools to manage the housing crunch, the state’s 2017 law remains a formidable barrier, limiting their ability to curb short‑term rentals and protect long‑term housing supply.