OREM, Utah — After months of discussion, city leaders in Orem are nearing a final decision on setting a policy for short-term rentals.
These spaces — like Airbnb listings — are currently prohibited by the city. But they’ve recently taken the option of a ban off the table, instead deciding to move forward with regulation.
Some locals are pushing back against that move because of how they believe it will impact their neighborhoods.
“It’s disruptive to the neighborhood and it’s disruptive to the community, not knowing who is next door every other night," Jordyn Kauwe said.
They’re feeling short-term rentals put a strain on their city.
Kauwe says her North Orem neighborhood was getting overrun.
"I had no idea—until one moved in next door," she said. “Parties to buses dropping off teams, work events.”
She says unexpected visitors were arriving from all over, and when she looked into it, she learned that it's not legal.
Kauwe said they had a private study done, which found hundreds of listings online.
“Within the last year, there’s 529 operating in Orem," she said.
And all of them are not allowed under city code.
City leaders began to weigh their options for regulation more than a year ago. At the time, others told us they were in favor of it being allowed, noting the opportunities in a university town.
“This is a place where kids come to school and that families want to come back and see their kids," said Kris Hammond, who owns short-term rentals in other cities and wants to see them regulated. “I think that there needs to be some restrictions and I think that we need to be good neighbors, whether it’s short-term, long-term."
Debbie Lamb, who serves on the city’s Neighborhood Advisory Commission, says they were tasked in 2025 with going out into the community to ask how the city should move forward.
“The consensus out of everybody from the districts was no — complete prohibition. 'They are illegal; let’s keep it that way,'" she said.
Yet by late May, Lamb says the city took that option off the table.
“And they’re giving into those that are breaking the law... I don’t understand that," Lamb said.
In a statement, Orem city officials said they have not made any final decisions yet and that they're trying to address the issue in a way that balances neighborhood needs, housing availability, and property rights.
But Kauwe has started a petition calling on them to take a step back from allowing them at all.
“It’s taking students out of schools. It’s taking families out of being able to afford a good-sized home. Listen to those of us that are here to protect our city… Save our neighborhoods," Lamb said.
Lamb says they expect the city to discuss the issue next week in a work session.
