HomeMy WebLinkAboutShort Term Rentals Moratorium
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Port Angeles City Council,
Please accept my comments into the city council records for the meeting tonight regarding Short Term Rentals Moratorium. I will not be attending but here is my perspective and opinion
on the matter.
Placing a moratorium on short term rentals will not solve PA’s homeless problem. What you need to realize is that;
1. We have a drug, alcohol and mental illness crisis. These folks are chronically homeless for these reasons and are not capable of renting a home, let alone a former vacation rental.
2. Condemning vacation rental use will not automatically convert those units into long term rental units. Owners will either sell or close up their business and not provide housing
to anyone, therefore defeating your purpose of exchanging one housing need for another.
3. You are interfering with private property rights.
4. Onerous building regulations and their subsequent costs are preventing the development of new and more affordable housing units. Washington State ranks last in the nation for housing
development which has greatly contributed to the shortage of housing units.
5. Because of more and more restrictive legislation over the last 3 years during covid, many rental housing investors have sold off their units and gotten out of the industry entirely.
The more you restrict, the worse it’s going to get.
6. Short term rentals provide an industry niche that hotels cannot provide. Can hotels offer full house units for traveling families or full kitchen accommodations for those needing
housing for 1 to 3 months, whether traveling for pleasure or a short-term job assignment? What about for group events? People want luxury options when traveling or on job assignments
and not just a sleeping room that motels offer.
7. PA touts themselves as a tourist destination. By removing vacation rental housing, you are hampering that industry by limiting the options and not enhancing the interest here.
8. Since legislators changed laws that made lease terms less than one year a disincentive, there is a need for short term rentals.
9. Do you think low income residents will even afford or qualify to rent the caliber of homes in the vacation rental pool? Low income/homeless residents won’t even qualify for homes
that are currently being used for vacation rentals. You would eliminate an industry that won’t even have a positive effect on the housing need you want to cover.
10. The eviction moratorium during covid was a disaster and caused more harm than good and didn’t solve a housing problem but only made it worse. By restricting vacation or short term
rentals, you would exacerbate the problem.
By eliminating the short term/vacation rentals, you are arbitrarily decimating an industry that has a demand and one that seems to be thriving. It also attracts more tourists and visitors
and part-time job assignment workers. It’s an industry that has a demand. It’s an industry that helps the community from home owners paying property taxes.
Why don’t you first find out what the exact housing need is, then cater development toward that and not just target one industry or blame one entity for homelessness and housing unaffordability.
I highly recommend not restricting short term rentals. Thank you.
Sandra
Sandra K. Miller
Property Manager
Managing Broker
330 E 1st Street, Suite 1
Port Angeles, WA 98362
Ph: (360) 452-1326 Fax: (360) 457-3212
Email: sandra@portangeleslandmark.com <mailto:sandra@portangeleslandmark.com>
Web: www.portangeleslandmark.com <https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.portangeleslandmark.com%2F&data=05%7C01%7CKmbailey%40cityofpa.us%7Cc800839847ec46b0f5ad08db614
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