Nearby Savannah or Providence a couple of years ago tired to prohibit Sec 8, and the investors were able to successfully fight that. 

This is not Uber business where Uber is going to fight for you to get legality status, Airbnb as a company would not help you because they do not have an interest in you. 

Otherwise you are DIY running a rooming house and its alot of work screening and managing the 2am fights, tenants leaving their trash in the kitchen iratating the other tenants.Its all doable, just the actual amount of hands on is more then you might think, even if padsplit is in your area and is willing to take your house into their system.   

You have to fight for every dollar because money doesn't fall from the sky. 

If they fight it, it's only because they want to redeem.

The latter everyone fights against, especially if you bring leverage into the discussion of costs.

You can fight this, turn it into a big deal, go to Airbnb and complain but at the end of the day, is it worth your time or frustration?

After that I stepped away grief is weird and while I felt I should fight for what my mom wanted my mom was my best friend and I didn't have it in me.

Bringing in 6 drunk friends in the middle of the night, especially in a house of women, is a recipe for a disaster.As for the cat, she shouldn't have left the door open, but unless it resulted in something happening to your cat (eg getting in a cat fight resulting in a visit to the vet), you can't make her pay you anything for that. 

I will instead wholesale the property and live to fight another day.