Are VRBO and Airbnb a plus or a problem for Colorado Springs? Vacation rentals are squeezing Amsterdam and Spain housing markets making housing unaffordable for people living there. Could that happen here? Should a city permit be required to ensure these entrepreneurs pay the Lodgers and Automobile Rental Tax (LART)? Should there be other regulations? Co-hosts and City Councilors Bill Murray and Tom Strand discuss vacation rentals and their financial impact on the city. (Episode 90, recorded 8/24/18)
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Listening to this podcast I realized how out of touch our city council is with the middle-class citizens who are doing this to PAY THEIR BILLS. I have a lot of respect for most of your votes in city council, William P. Murray, but when you make the comment that Uber is just like a taxi company you are completely wrong!!! A taxi company does not require employees to provide their own cars, (gas, maintenance, insurance, cleaning costs, depreciation). Uber does not provide any benefits, vacation, etc., etc., etc.! In the same way, the ANTLERS or the HILTON is absolutely nothing like a family renting out a room (or a cottage) to PAY THEIR BILLS!
This reveals that city council is, I am sorry to say, completely clueless that middle class people are not doing this for a fun idea to make some “extra” money – or to start a business because that’s their dream – they are doing this out of NECESSITY. They are doing this IN ADDITION TO THEIR OTHER JOBS!!! Do you actually think these people, who are already working and decide to do this for more income are just greedy or looking for some entertainment? Tom Strand, you live on the Westside, as I do, and yet you make a comment about some of these people who are buying vacation homes as a business. You give an example of someone who decides to buy three $300K properties as a business venture. Wow, how nice to have close to ONE MILLION DOLLARS to go into the vacation rental business! Is this your regular Westside citizen, Mr. Strand? No, it is not. You both may be decent people, but you are in a bubble–you do not understand what 99% of the citizens here are going through. You do not make a distinction between wealthy investors (many moving here from California because it is an “anything goes” predatory developers’ dream, thanks to people like Peter Wysocki–and a city council who doesn’t fire him!)
Those of us who open up our homes (and our lives) to vacationers to pay the bills are at a much higher level than any wealthy investor who is doing this, because we are hands on. We are cleaning bathrooms and doing extra laundry and we actually CARE about what we are providing on a PERSONAL LEVEL. We care about our city, we care about the people we let into our homes. We’re not someone who is just doing this because they have extra money to invest and we think it’s a cool and profitable idea.
You need to give the people what they are demanding here. A BREAK. You need to make common sense decisions. A very minimum permit fee at MOST. Charge out-of-state investors a lot more. Cap it off at three properties, before they buy up the whole town. Most of us who do this are paying taxes–Airbnb takes them out automatically. We are paying insurance, we are paying for the wear and tear on these buildings, furniture, linens; we spend money on landscaping. Now, you are wanting to put a load of additional burdens and restrictions on middle class homeowners who may have one small investment property, and that is WRONG. Put the restrictions on those who should be restricted, who are moving here to TAKE and not to ADD to the quality of life here, not those who are doing this out of necessity.
This reminds me of how people used to take in laundry to help make ends meet–would you make them apply for permits as laundromats?
For many of us, it’s not all about the money, either–we know we are the very best representatives of this city if we are doing it “right”. We get notes from the families we host, thanking us. They tell us that we made their reunions with their families special, that they were able to experience our neighborhoods here in a unique way. By GENEROUSLY opening our private homes to visitors, we have made it possible for thousands of families to vacation here, as Airbnb homes are far less expensive for a family than hotel rooms. WE are doing this city a service. DON’T LET US DOWN! NO RESTRICTIONS.