WESTMINSTER WEST — I am a 10-year veteran Airbnb host. We have one guest room that we love to rent out to guests from all over the world. We need the income, and our guests enrich our lives. I have no quarrel with people who rent rooms in their homes or attached dwellings, yurts, or tents to travelers. That's great.
My beef is with those who rent out standalone, winterized dwellings that could be long-term rentals. I have noticed recently there are quite a few new-looking blandly decorated houses on Airbnb in our area which fall into that category.
Who owns these places? The owners, whoever they are, don't live here, don't send kids to school, don't go to the local churches or join any local organizations. They don't march in the parade or coach Little League or grow vegetables or raise chickens.
Basically, short-term rental units are no longer a part of the community. A few of these blanks are OK in a neighborhood, I suppose, but how many can be absorbed before the character of the community changes?
That is an important question that needs to be addressed by selectboards and legislators.
I love Airbnb, but it is being gamed for big profits by investors - a consequence not foreseen by its founders, who provided air mattresses on the floor for visitors. Airbnb and other short-term rental agencies such as Vrbo need to be restricted in order to open up badly needed housing for people who actually want to live here and participate in our communities.
Burlington has passed an ordinance that requires you to be a resident of that city in order to list your properties on Airbnb. That's a start, but it does not go nearly far enough, giving a green light to landlords to turn their apartments into more-profitable short-term rentals.
In Toronto, by law you can only list your primary residence on Airbnb. You cannot list your secondary residences, such as an investment property or vacation home, as short-term rentals. If we had that rule in Vermont, it would surely open up thousands of units for desperately needed long-term rentals and sales.
New rental units are being planned in Brattleboro and throughout the state to address the housing crisis. It will take at least two years to build such things. Restricting short-term rentals would provide instant relief.
Toronto took the bull by the horns. Let's follow suit in Vermont, for the sake of our residents and our communities.