Short-term rental pool party ends in fatal shooting, raising concerns
HOUSTON - A short-term rental pool party turns deadly, leaving a 21-year-old young man shot to death. The shots rang out last night in the 7100 block of Orville Street in Trinity Gardens.
So what's being done about the violence at Houston short-term rental homes?
SUGGESTED: Houston grapples with short-term rental nuisances
According to the Houston City Council Quality of Life Committee, more than 60,000 calls were made to the Houston Police Department in the last year alone regarding short-term rentals.
Most of the 61,167 calls, according to the report, came from District D (17,225 calls) where the 21-year-old was shot on Sunday, and also from District C (12,929 calls).
"Some of the short-term rental owners are allowing all kinds of criminal activity to take place, people partying into the night and affecting the people around them, so that is something we definitely don't want to see continue happening," explains District A Houston City Councilwoman Amy Peck, who says 60,000 phone calls to HPD in a year's time regarding short term rentals is disheartening.
"When there are that many calls for service in just a few locations, we're not talking about many, many locations, that tells me there is a problem here," Peck said.
"It's sad because some people my age just want to step out and have a good time, and you can't even have a good time without something happening or gunshots being fired. (Do you think something needs to be done regarding all the violence taking place at short-term rentals?) Yes," answers Houston resident Trey Turner.
At a recent city council meeting, dozens of Houston residents packed city council to talk about short-term rentals. What are some of the things they complained about?
"We heard from people, not just about the loud parties, it even went one step further, people who were doing drugs and prostitution and all kinds of things right in front of their homes. Something needs to be done. I think some of this could be taken care of with our current city ordinances. We need to just enforce what's on the books and then also look at other ordinances to make sure it goes far enough to stop this from happening," says Peck. "The city is looking at how to implement some of the policies that other cities have done that have been successful. (Any idea of the time frame when city council may take a vote on something like this?) In the last Quality of Life Committee meeting, they said they're nearing the end of this investigation and should have updates in the next couple of months."
There are nearly 11,000 short-term rental properties across Houston and Peck says most owners are in compliance, but she says policy needs to be changed to address those that repeatedly allow violence and crime.