VRMA Administrator
Vacation towns like Steamboat Springs, Colorado, are limiting short-term rentals to cope with a housing crisis, which they mainly blame on the vacation rental industry. Short-term rentals have become increasingly popular for second homeowners wanting to offset the cost of their vacation homes and earn profits while away. In June, the Steamboat Springs City Council banned new short-term rentals in most of the town and passed a ballot measure to tax the industry at 9% to underwrite affordable housing. A group of businesses and property owners called the Steamboat Springs Community Preservation Alliance is against the tax, which vice president Robin Craigen is worried will undermine any competitive advantage the town might have over other Rockies ski resorts. Smaller tourist destinations have to balance the lodging industry that upholds their economies with the need to house the workers that maintain it. "The trajectory of the number of properties becoming [short-term rentals] is not sustainable," argued Colorado Association of Ski Towns Executive Director Margaret Bowes. "No one [working in] these communities" will be able to live in them.
Associated Press (08/23/22) Jesse Bedayn
