LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For months, the Louisville Metro Council has been working to develop new rules for short-term rental properties in the city. The council could vote on several proposed changes later this month — but some residents say the latest amendment to the new rules leaves open room for some to abuse the system.

Within a stone’s throw of Jasmine Tate’s front door, there are nearly a dozen homes currently registered as short-term rentals.

“Over the course of eight years, we’ve seen the number just kind of like creep up and up,” Tate explained.

Jasmine Tate lives in Phoenix Hill, she and others share concerns about the over saturation of short term rentals in neighborhoods like hers (Spectrum News 1/Mason Brighton)

The lifelong Louisville resident lives in the Phoenix Hill neighborhood. Much like Clifton and the Highlands, it’s the most densely populated part of the city for short-term rentals. She says the fact that more than a third of the blocks on her home are these kinds of properties is concerning.

“I have a family that lives here, and so the sense of community you get from having actual neighbors is really important to me,” Tate said. “And we’re losing a lot of that.”

Currently, Louisville has over 1,200 registered short-term rentals. In August, a Metro Council committee approved a new set of ordinances to curb the negative side effects of their continued growth. Among the changes are an increased yearly registration fee — more limits on how close new rentals can be to each other — and changes to who can host a rental.

“I’m not personally anti short-term rentals. I just think that there needs to be a balance of it. And right now, in our neighborhood, we just don’t have that,” Tate said.

Still, Tate and others say not all the changes will fix these issues. Lisa Santos, a member of the Irish Hill neighborhood council — helped write a letter to the city — urging them to close an unintended loophole that would allow people who don’t live in a home to just use it as a rental.

“So what is being considered now is that you do not have to be an owner, that you can be a renter with the permission of your landlord. But we contend that that’s the same loophole they exploit,” Santos said. “Now they say they live there and they don’t. And they have someone act as their proxy that says they live there, but they don’t.”

Tate shares the same concerns and is hopeful Metro Council will do its best to protect the sense of community in neighborhoods.

Metro Council has until this October to complete new ordinances concerning short-term rentals.