Kerrville

So that you can have your voice heard and heeded, if you are a Kerrville resident, please let the Texas Neighborhood Coalition know you support our efforts to protect residential neighborhoods, and they will put you in touch with leaders of the Kerrville chapter.Thank you.

Kerrville news

The Kerrville Chapter of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition is a non-political and highly diverse group of residents from all across the city, with different backgrounds and experiences, lower income to affluent, homeowners to long-term renters to off-campus students, young and old and everything in-between.  We vary in socio-economic statuses, cultures, and ages. We are a grassroots community organization united in seeking to protect and preserve all Kerrville neighborhoods from being negatively impacted by STRs. We reject the idea of allowing STRs in residential neighborhoods as they run counter to residential zoning and the 2050 plan.

The Kerrville 2050 plan speaks to the need to build relationships between neighbors and foster a shared sense of belonging. The social capital that is built through this mutual contact and understanding strengthens community identity and makes neighborhoods more resilient. But when family homes are replaced by STRs, with transient individuals who have no vested interest in the neighborhood, the opportunity to build that social capital is greatly compromised. The plan also states: Maintain quality and value of existing neighborhoods. Unfortunately, STRs literally dismantle existing neighborhoods in favor of commercial businesses. This betrays residents' expectation that residential zoning actually means residential zoning.

Kerrville homeowners and long-term renters have noticed a marked increase in investors buying up family homes in neighborhoods across the city in order to convert them into short-term rentals (STRs), like Airbnb. The number of STRs in Kerrville is rapidly growing and though lower income neighborhoods have been hit the hardest so far, STR investors have started to push for approvals in more affluent areas of the city as well. Permanent residents are being displaced and replaced by transient vacationers on such a scale that some streets are barely recognizable any more. Obviously, residents are greatly upset about this commercialization of neighborhoods by STRs and identify three primary reasons:

1.       Nuisances (parking, traffic, noise, trash, strangers in the neighborhood)

2.       Loss of neighborhood and neighbors, loss of safety and security, loss of social capital 

3.      Exacerbation of Kerrville’s dire housing shortage by converting family homes into STRs, displacing long-term renters, and prompting skyrocketing rents and home purchase costs

In an effort to gain some order to the process of approving STRs, the City held a Town Hall meeting on July 25, 2022, inviting anyone who wanted to attend to participate and help find solutions to the issue.  The KTNC had a large turnout at the event and residents wanted to express their concerns.  The City made it clear they already knew the concerns and just wanted solutions.  This caused a great deal of confusion about the specifics of what City Council wanted participants to do and unfortunately, tempers flared as residents believed the City Council did not want to hear their voices. 

The Kerrville Chapter of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition (KTNC), has taken note that no residentially zoned area in Kerrville is safe from being commercialized and is united in the belief that all residential neighborhoods matter and contribute to the viability of the city and deserve to be protected.