City of Sedona

Assistant city manager Karen Osburn displayed this map of west Sedona at a City Council meeting on July 24, 2019. Short-term rentals are marked in red.

Sedona has always been a tourist magnet, with its beautiful red rocks and Oak Creek Canyon. But today, it is facing a housing crisis.

Short-term rentals on sites like Airbnb account for 20% of Sedona's housing stock, and that has had serious consequences for many of its permanent residents.

Last week, about 150 Sedona residents packed a city meeting and grilled state Rep. Bob Thorpe (R-Flagstaff) about the “Airbnb bill” that they say led to this. During that meeting, there was this moment when the assistant city manager pulled up a map of West Sedona that was dotted with short term rentals.

The Arizona Republic’s Lorraine Longhi recently reported on this and joined The Show to talk about the trend.

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