Sean Bailey sits in his bedroom, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Bailey, who moved to Steamboat Springs in 2019, has been on a waitlist for three years to get one of Steamboat's affordable housing apartments. He says the 12-foot-by-12-foot space serves as his living room, dining room, den and office.
Steamboat Springs is part of a wave of vacation towns across the country facing a housing crisis and grappling with how to regulate the industry they point to as a culprit: Short-term rentals such as those booked throughand Vrbo that have squeezed small towns’ limited housing supply and sent rents skyrocketing for full-time residents.
Short-term rentals have become increasingly popular for second homeowners eager to offset the cost of their vacation homes and turn a profit while away. Even property investment companies have sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into the industry, hoping to pull a larger yield from tourists seeking their own kitchen, some privacy and a break from cookie-cutter hotel rooms.
“There is not a day goes by that I don’t hear from someone … that they have to move” because they can’t afford rent, said Heather Sloop, a council member who voted for the ordinance. “It’s crushing our community.” While larger cities, including Denver and Boston, have stricter short-term rental regulations, smaller tourist destinations must strike a delicate balance. They want to support the lodging industry that sustains their economies while limiting it enough to retain the workers that keep it running.
“This report underscores the integral role of short-term rentals in the Colorado tourism economy,” Airbnb spokesperson Mattie Zazueta wrote in an email.
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