Short-term lodging, and who is renting them
By Sage Sauerbrey, Moonshine Ink
Short-term rentals have rapidly become a polarizing topic. While property rights advocates argue for the freedom to utilize their homes as assets and housing advocates point to a decline in long term rental inventory being a result, the local jurisdictions are caught in the crossfire and have thus far been treading carefully and cautiously.
It’s a heated discussion, and in fact multiple sources requested not to be named in this story for that very reason. But, people are speaking up, and it appears that action to find a balance between these two schools of thought may be on the horizon.
The short-term rental market has skyrocketed locally and nationally in a few short years. In Truckee, the number of Airbnb units is currently growing at 65 percent a year, according to AirDNA. Strict rental ordinances recently were put in place nearby in South Lake Tahoe, and across the country, sister mountain hamlets have approached the pros and cons associated with the house sharing economy in diverse ways. All of these factors have thrown the issue into sharper focus as communities scramble to address the issue.