A weekend topic starting with the Post Register on Idaho. "As more people visit Island Park each year and more homeowners are turning their properties into short-term rentals. (Island Park’s year-round population was 262 in the 2020 Census.) Tourism in the Greater Yellowstone Region has skyrocketed in recent years and Island Park, a key gateway to Yellowstone National Park, has not been spared from that trend. Many of the area’s part-time residents have turned their homes and cabins into income properties. It’s estimated there may be as many as 1,000 short-term rentals in Island Park, but only 60 percent are said to be properly permitted."

"'It is so disheartening when you see someone on their four-wheeler chasing a moose through your private property because they wanted to try and get a better picture of it,' said Teri Ehresman."

"Many Island Park residents point to the Idaho 2017 Legislature’s House Bill 216 as a key factor in many of the issues regarding short-term rentals. The bill, which became law in January 2018, was intended to protect property rights by preventing cities and counties in Idaho from enacting or enforcing any ordinance that would prohibit a short-term rental from certain parts of their jurisdictions."

The Red Rock News in Arizona. "The 2020 US Census found that Sedona’s popula­tion again fallen to 9,684, below our historical high of 10,192 in 2000 and below 10,031 residents in 2010. Our growth rate is -3.5%. We Sedona residents have lost the legal ability to vote on our community plan because the changing conditions of our city is pushing our population to leave for other communities, some nearby."

"While some residents may want to point the finger at the glut of vacation rentals pushing out long-time renters, the population drop began long before the passage of Senate Bill 1350 in 2015. Short-term rentals exacerbate the problem, but did not cause it."

"However, we can legitimately make the case that due to the lack of affordable housing, the high cost of living, the exodus of families, especially working class families, being replaced by an influx of part-time second homeowners and well-off retired singles and couples without children at home means we have suffered a loss of input on our local democ­racy. Demographic changes have consequences."

The Del Norte Triplicate in California. "Concerns over noise and a lack of affordable housing have put short-term rentals under scrutiny in Del Norte and Curry counties.The influence of STRs date back to the 1950s, but their market influence wasn’t widely felt until Airbnb put them in the spotlight a little over a decade ago. 'We are essentially at a crossroads with the issue of vacation rentals,' said Betty Crockett, Curry County’s planning director, during a Dec. 1 Board of Commissioners workshop meeting. 'They are a positive influence in promoting tourism and bringing dollars to the community for the people that own vacation rentals and the businesses that serve the vacationers, however some have become conduits for nuisance violations and neighbor complaints.'"

"So far, a majority of STRs are either lightly regulated or not regulated at all. Vacation rental owners in Curry County are supposed to apply for a county business license and pay a 7 percent transient lodging tax, but according to Crockett, of the 400 vacation properties in the county, only 100 of them have current business licenses and 300 pay the required transient lodging tax during the peak season summer months."

"'Essentially, they are unregulated,' Crockett said. Across the Oregon border and into Del Norte County in Northern California, officials appear to have an even stronger hands off approach. A 10% transient occupancy tax is authorized under State Revenue and Taxation Code section 7280, but that’s levied on those occupying a room or rooms 'in a hotel, motel, inn, tourist home or house, or other lodging for a period of 30 days or less.'"

"Read a little further on the county’s website, and it states that business licenses for short term rentals are not required. 'Regulating short term rentals of single family homes - the county has not taken a stance on that,' said Heidi Kunstall, the community development director for Del Norte County."

"The influence of the so-called short term rental effect on long-term housing and neighbors who live near them, however, may still be out shadowed by its popular and lucrative juggernaut."

The Ukiah Daily Journal in California. "What do you think of the idea of Mendocino County restricting and/or regulating so-called short-term rentals (STRs), rented mostly by vacationing tourists. What about the right of property owners to rent housing units? The Mendocino Coast’s economy is mainly fueled by tourism, so the conversion of affordable housing to short-term vacation rentals comes as no surprise. At the BOS meeting on Nov. 16, the Supes took up the issue due mainly to some Coasties arguing for regulation, if not outright banning of STRs."

"John Gorman reminded the Supes that some property owners rely on short-term rentals for income, saying, 'You don’t want to kill the golden goose here, just screaming, deny all rentals.'"

"Johanna Jensen, a member of the Housing Action Team, explained her group had surveyed employees. She said, 'From the employees’ survey, a full quarter of them said that they are impacted by short term vacation rentals …  vacation rentals are not contributing any skills or benefit for anybody, and the bed tax collected is only diverting from the established lodging industry. The number of vacation rentals on the coast is absolutely disgusting. People moving here from the Bay Area are driving prices up and local greedy landowners and homeowners are cashing out, displacing local service workers, including medical and first responders.'"

The Coast River Business Journal in Oregon. "Since December 2020, the average sale price of a home has increased by over $100,000 in Astoria, according to realty data. It’s a similar situation throughout the North Coast, with six-figure increases in Cannon Beach, Gearhart, Manzanita and Warrenton. A county housing study conducted in 2019 found that there was an oversupply of houses needed for local residents, but that short-term rental interests have been purchasing over half of new properties and driving up prices."

"'We also are seeing a lot of climate refugees,' said Andrea Mazzarella, a Realtor with Vesta Realty Group. 'People that are afraid that their neighborhood or house is going to burn down in California with the next wave of fires so they want to move someplace greener and wetter, and presumably safer from forest fires that are happening every year in Eastern Oregon and south of us in California.'"

"She also gets frequent calls from people hoping to buy a second home, often in Seaside and Cannon Beach. Some want to invest in Airbnb, but are met with Clatsop County’s recent vacation rental license moratorium."

From Boulder Weekly in Colorado. "City governments have stepped in and created their own housing vouchers—often in partnership with nonprofit organizations and landlords—to fill the gap. One such program that garnered lots of praise in its infancy back in 2017 was Lower-Income Voucher Equity (LIVE) Denver, an ambitious plan to help some 400 moderate-income families—those earning between 40 and 80 percent of area median income—get into empty market-rate apartments."

"'Because at the time that we were designing the LIVE Denver program,' says Erik Soliván, 'Denver had some 30,000 vacant units in the metro area—not just within the city, but within the metro area—that were vacant because they were built to meet a market demand purely at the quote unquote luxury end.'"

From CBS 4 in Colorado. "Two new programs from Frisco city council are intended to curb what is being described as an absolute crisis in housing. On Monday before her interview with CBS4, councilmember Melissa Sherburne says she took stock of just how high prices have risen. 'The median home price right now is $827,000. That’s all housing units. For a single family home it’s 1.3 million,' Sherburne explained."

"That’s why city council has opted to try out two new plans. First, an incentive for property owners looking to rent their homes as short term rentals to consider long term rentals instead. Frisco city council is now hoping to achieve a 50% occupancy rate for it’s units in town, which it says will help keep track of progress and make sure it’s plans are effective."

The Record Eagle in Michigan. "The house off of Meadowfield Lane is beautiful. Tucked into the woods off a main junction in Harbor Springs, it boasts a fireplace living room, a large yard perfect for playful children, and an easy commute to some of the region's most beautiful natural treasures. Last year, it sold for $262,000 by a local elementary school teacher to a Wayne County businessman. It was remodeled with a mid-century touch and at least two additional bunk-beds before being listed on AirBnB by its new owner."

"Since then, the home-turned-getaway is among the most popular short-term rentals in the region, bringing in passive profits for both its owner and an out-of-state rental management company, Evolve, which takes a 10 percent cut — the same rate Evolve charges to manage more than 100 northwest Michigan listings."

"Data from InsideAirBnB show the number of listings in the northwest Lower Peninsula quadrupling in recent years. From Leelanau to Emmet counties, 4,210 AirBnB listings appear on the company's site, up from fewer than 1,000 at the beginning of 2018. Grand Traverse County accounts for a quarter of the region's listings, with hundreds of rentals cramped into Traverse City proper."

"'They are coming in with gobs of money,' said Yarrow Brown, executive director for Housing North. 'What's happening nationwide is it's becoming a more corporate opportunity. It's not a couple having a second home doing AirBnB. It is a corporation signing up properties and renting them out — and making a lot of money.'"

"'Come on vacation, leave on probation.' That's the saying referenced by Chuck Korn, Garfield Township's supervisor, when he recalls the first complaints about short-term rentals. It hasn't entirely stopped short-term renters. The township issues between 20 and 30 letters per year to homeowners who try to convert their home into a rental, according to data from the township's planning commission. Some tell Korn their realtor led them to believe renting the property was legal."

"Brown also is concerned that quick, cash buys from short-term rental investors are driving up area home prices for others. Sometimes, cash buys that go for above listing price can reset neighborhood housing prices, raising them in relation to that purchase. 'The million dollar question is how is this impacting the real-estate prices, too?' said Brown."