Five people were injured at an Airbnb shooting on Live Oak Street on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026.

You could call it a grim irony: As fireworks lit up the sky and families across Houston rang in the New Year, gunfire erupted at short-term rentals just as the city's new ordinance governing those properties took effect.

At least seven people were shot and injured at two separate parties. Days earlier, two people were shot outside a large party of mostly teens at a short-term rental in Third Ward.

Coincidence? Hardly. The violence highlights the very concerns from residents and city officials that some short-term rentals have become a magnet for mayhem and violence.

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Houston is one of the nation's most popular cities for short-term rentals. Until now, it's has been one of the few major cities with virtually no rules governing them. For years, residents across the city, from the Museum District to the Galleria, have inundated City Hall with complaints of noisy and unruly parties, domestic violence and public sex at area short-term........

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