The city of Destin is facing a problem with crowded houses.

Critics say property owners are breaking city rules by turning their single-family homes into boarding houses, allowing two, even three different families to live in one house.

The Destin City Council voted on Monday to have staff draw up a new ordinance that would restrict homeowners from creating boarding houses in a single-family residence and told the code enforcement department to make violators a priority.

Destin's Mayor Craig Barker says local government is doing all they can to fix the problem.

Mayor Craig Barker said, "Myself and the city council certainly sympathize with those residents who have seen a degradation in the quality of life in their neighborhood, and it's just a shame that people are doing this to them in spite of signing affidavits not to do so."

Barker says the new ordinance can take up to three months to get approved, but he's hoping the process won't take that long.