According to a recent letter to the editor about the Frisco housing petition, Frisco residents have a “rapidly deteriorating quality of life” and need to “protect neighborhood culture.” The answer to these problems, according to J. Hayes Walsh, is to restrict short-term rentals in single-family homes in Frisco.

A ban on short-term rentals in Frisco is not going to bring real estate prices down so locals can afford housing. It’s simple supply and demand. More people want to live here, and we don’t have the housing supply to meet the demand. The problem is made worse by people who can work remotely and would rather live here than a big city. These people can often afford much higher priced properties than our locals.

Second-home owners buy property here because they want to be here. Rentals are a secondary factor when the property is not occupied by the owner. Banning short-term rentals is not going to change real estate prices because it’s not going to stop the demand for people to buy here.

The town of Frisco recently reported that short-term rentals make up 17% of available housing. How is that a problem in a tourist-based economy? That leaves 83% available for locals. There are many factors contributing to our housing crisis, and the solution should involve changes to all those factors. But when you open the paper or listen to Town Council and county commissioner comments, the only thing being talked about is bans and restrictions to short-term rentals. This petition does nothing to look at the big picture and bring about real changes to benefit our community long term.

If you don’t like tourists, then choosing to live in a popular tourist destination probably wasn’t a good decision.