Rent prices in Bloomington-Normal have skyrocketed, and the housing crunch is tighter than ever. In Normal, the town council recently turned a critical eye toward short-term rentals [STRs] like Airbnb, which some members think may deplete the area’s housing stock more rapidly, among other unintended consequences from noise pollution to parking disruptions.
To conduct research and better understand the scope of STRs' impacts on the community, Normal temporarily banned new ones — and Bloomington City Council members, as well as the deputy city manager, said Bloomington may consider a similar approach.
In the meantime, property owners and government leaders agree there’s no current evidence linking the housing shortage to short-term rentals, and some property owners said they doubt the effects are all that harmful.
Ryan Curtis, treasurer of the McLean County Area Landlord Association and a landlord for both long-term and short-term stay units across McLean County, is among the skeptical.
“I don’t know if it’s really making that big of an impact,” Curtis said about short-term rentals. “I don't know if a lot of these short-term Airbnbs would be in the rental pool if they were to not be Airbnbs anymore.”
At the same time, he said two of his units would likely go into the long-term rental pool and it’s entirely possible that single-family homes listed as Airbnbs would get resold as housing.
Normal Town Planner Mercy Davison said those short-term rentals that prove viable housing stock concern her, and of the 66 registered STRs in Normal, she added many fit that bill.
“I believe it does have an impact on housing and affordability, and many other communities are looking at this issue in the same way, “ she said. “So I feel like we're on the right track, at least in considering this now. What we decide to do with it — every community has a different strategy.”
In 2024, New York and St. Louis implemented a tax for short-term rentals, Hawaii issued higher taxes on STRs to forgo an altogether ban, and San Antonio’s city council updated its STR Ordinance, limiting stays to under 30 days.
Normal’s solution may not become apparent until at least June when the moratorium on STRs is set to end.
Scope of the problem

When this article was published, Airbnb had around 200 units listed in the Bloomington-Normal area. [Note, Airbnb doesn’t allow searches based on ZIP codes, so estimates are approximate]. That’s already a drop from a few weeks ago when around 350 units were listed.
The units run the gamut. Some are stay-cation investments meant to offer an exclusive experience, and others are furnished apartments or bedrooms in occupied homes. Then, there are single-family zoning dwellings designed for short-term stays and lived-in homes that are only temporarily listed while an owner is away.
It’s difficult to assess the situation based on a listing alone, which is part of why Davison said Normal is doing its moratorium. Plus, there are factors outside of housing stock to consider. Davison said many communities are doing this work because, as in Normal, there are “pure, kind of, complaint-based lifestyle conflicts.”
Someone parked in the wrong spot, the streets are cluttered — the list goes on. Davison said that has been what all public complaints have been about. The second factor — housing stock — was generated at the government level.
More housing needed
However, not all Airbnbs operate the same way. Curtis offers short-term stays for only a few of his 37 total units across McLean County, including a couple of stay-cation options priced at the higher end. He said some of his units fall into more of a “mid-term rental" category than a true short-term, averaging stays of between two and three months.
“I would not cap it necessarily for a maximum stay, like, ‘Hey, you can only stay six months, and you have to move out.’ You know, it's whatever the guests' needs are,” he said.
He also has a minimum length of stay to avoid partiers and the like.
At one of Curtis' two furnished apartments for short-term rentals in Carlock, he said a Rivian contractor recently stayed for just under seven months. He’s found that many people looking at his furnished units are in similar positions: They’re in the area for temporary work and don’t want to tie themselves into a 12-month or sometimes even a six-month lease.
Elliot Farlow, a private owner of a few dozen properties in Bloomington and Normal, thinks this is where Airbnbs play a distinct and potentially critical role in the current market.
“I don't think it's a problem,” Farlow said of short-term leases. “I think it serves the needs of a community, especially when you're filling that gap that exists in this town of longer than three days, but shorter than six months.”

This, from someone who doesn’t offer short-term rentals himself. Farlow and his wife operate 36 affordable, long-term lease units in Bloomington and Normal, and they recently got an offer from a prospective tenant willing to pay $250 over the monthly rent price and pay upfront in exchange for a short-term lease.
The Farlows declined.
Renting is more than just a business for Elliot Farlow and his wife. It’s a relationship that’s built between renter and landlord — a term Farlow doesn’t even like to use because of its negative connotations.
Farlow said many in the area feel the same, leaving units up for grabs to incoming tenants wanting to make Bloomington-Normal home. It’s a somewhat symbiotic relationship in his mind.
He pointed to the proposed upscale apartment complex on Empire Street in Bloomington. While the wording may set off “alarm bells” for current residents asking for more affordable housing, Farlow said, new units generally will lead to improvements.
“Let's take a young engineer from Rivian, and they had two months to find an apartment when they came and they settled on something, and they got situated, but then they're not ready to buy or they're not ready to commit to the location totally, but they're ready to upgrade, and they're ready to get something a little bit nicer,” Farlow explained.
In that scenario, Farlow said the young engineer would be a perfect candidate for these upscale units, and if the person moves, a vacant, affordable unit opens up.
“I really do think the only way out of the current housing condition is to build more housing,” he said.
Curtis said he thinks people may be surprised to hear that property owners are shying away from STRs as of late. He said the overall renting market has slowed down, which makes short-term options even less appealing to land owners. He added that long-term spaces are “tried and true.”
“There's always someone that needs somewhere to rent versus short term, it's kind of the new thing that's out there and if the money goes away, then, you know, obviously it makes more sense to just keep it long-term,” he said.
In other words, current offerings often reflect demand.
Government intervention
When it comes to government intervention, both Curtis and Farlow said they were weary. As land owners, they said, it’s never good to hear the government may start dictating how you can use your property. At the same time, they both think there’s a lot to learn from Normal’s moratorium.
“We need to look at both sides of the table and see if there is a real issue,” Curtis said.
Bloomington Ward 3 council member Sheila Montney said she believes it’s part of the government’s job to help people with housing, and she hopes the city council will soon have a conversation similar to Normal’s.
“I think this is a significant issue that needs deep discussion because you're trying to balance free market with what is best, really for your community,” she said, adding that she believes in some cases these Airbnbs might be in breach of zoning codes.
In 2021, Montney said a constituent reached out about a five-bedroom rental in her neighborhood that was cluttering up a narrow street where school buses often got blocked from picking up neighborhood kids. In that instance, Montney said she sees it as a potential violation.
“I do think code enforcement is a path that should be explored to understand, is that a commercial transaction in a residential area that's not zoned for a commercial transaction?” she said.
Bloomington’s Deputy City Manager Billy Tyus said there is “absolutely [a] conversation about how they impact housing” happening to some extent already.
“But there’s also the conversation about, you know, the need for people who come into our community who perhaps want a longer stay [than] at a hotel,” he said, also bringing the issue back to property owner rights.
In Normal, Davison said this issue is top of mind during the moratorium. Even if there were ban — which she said is the worst-case scenario at the end of the moratorium — she said people would be given plenty of lead time to decide what to do with their properties.
“You give them three years, five years, seven years, whatever the year number is, they have that long to, theoretically, like, recover the cost of what they put into it, or, you know, make, kind of make themselves whole, and then at the end of a period of time it has to stop operating,” she said.
Town council member Karyn Smith said she’s been advocating for a five-year cap. She added that fewer than 80 total Airbnb units won’t make the type of large-scale difference that’s needed right now, “but it would move the needle.”