Vacation Rental Ban in Hood River?!

[CUSalin]

[cgoudie1]

I own, and live in a condo in a complex of condos here most of the Summer.
For the last 10 years, I've watched the complex go from short term (weekly
or less with a lot of partying), to long term or full time occupancy, so
the exact opposite of the arguments against short term rentals here. It
makes me wonder if this complex is isolated, or if there is some agenda
other than altruism associated with discouraging short term rentals. Usually
it's not altruism, but greed, that causes changes like what is proposed, and
not the greed of the "common folk". I don't rent out my unit when I'm not
here, but I might need to when I retire, and I think limiting the type of
rental I can make will limit my income, so I'm not a fan of limiting short
term rentals. Of course, there are limits, i.e. I don't want units in my
complex being rented to some commercial enterprise and such, but that
should be decided on by the owners community themselves, not by Hood River.

Anyway, that's the opinion of someone on the ground.

-Craig

[beaglebuddy]

[johnl]

I had a long conversation last night with somebody who has sat through the meetings. Hood River is trying to address the problem of many of the homes being bought are vacation homes. Many of these homes are then rented out as weekly rentals. This is driving the affordability of homes away from the residents and their offspring. Already Hood River is running low on affordable housing for the people who actually live and work in Hood River. I was shocked to discover that employees of instu (spelled wrong), one of the higher paying jobs in the area, is loosing employees because they can't afford housing.

So Hood River is looking at ways to try and get control before it gets anymore out of control.

Although it is also predicted that White Salmon will see a surge.....

[isobars]

Our homeowners' association of >700 individual family homes, each on multiple acres, has done MANY very positive things and no bad things (that I'm aware of). Don't assume they're all like the ones that make the newspapers.

[pacspeed]

So I'll go ahead and admit it, I'm a Californian, wanting to buy a property in Hood River, and rent it out while we're not there.
I lived in Hood River for 10 years, from '99-'09. It was great for us at the time, we bought and renovated several houses, had two kids, and started solid careers. Eventually, though, we tired of the small town gossip, the cultural limitations, the difficulty of getting ahead financially, and the winters. Now, 6 years later, we have had the pleasure of coming to HR 3 summers in a row simply as tourists, and its awesome. Exactly the sort of place I'd like to keep some roots in. After all, both my kids were born in the same room at Providence hospital. I worked variously at Meadows, Chinook, Nolimitz, and Insitu, and still have plenty of close friends around.
I cant say really what my presence would do to "quality of life" for anyone, though I know like most places, the mid-columbia is overpopulated, making every new face a nuisance. I also know, however that the negative corollary of a desirable community and rising real estate prices is not a desirable thing. See: Detroit

[beaglebuddy]

New rules in Bend Oregon for vacation rentals, http://bendoregon.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=22197

[rigatoni]

When you guys get it all figured out, let me know. We are having a real battle brewing here in San Francisco regarding the same issue. Many of us know of long time tenants getting evicted to vacate a unit for vacation rentals.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/airbnb-breaking-the-bank-to-kill-prop-f/

I've come up to Hood River for a week or two almost every year for the last 15 years. My observation is that lately it has been harder to find a rental property.

[CUSalin]

Simply put, the circumstances are "high demand / low inventory" for short-term rentals, long term rentals, new & previously owned homes for purchase. The result, of course, are increasing prices.

Demand will ebb & flood..., but for now appears to still be flooding.

Challenge will be to plan well for growth in a way that does not diminish attractiveness.

I don't believe efforts to stifle growth are a good solution, and neither again is uncontrolled growth.

[TBird]

No one is talking about banning vacation rentals. We're talking about putting regulations in place to better manage the city's housing inventory. (By "we," I am speaking as a local resident.) As earlier posters have correctly noted, it's an issue of affordability. We have a limited number of places to live here. Because our little city bumps up against rivers and mountains and other protected areas, we can't expand much even if we wanted to. In recent years, we've watched a growing percentage of that limited housing supply purchased by out-of-town investors. Every house that becomes a lucrative vacation rental for them becomes one fewer house for people who want to live here and become part of our community.

That obviously drives up housing prices—see Park City, Sun Valley, etc. etc. It also degrades neighborhoods. Most people staying at vacation rentals are nice folks, certainly. But I wouldn't buy a house next to a B&B, and certainly wouldn't buy one next to a Holiday Inn. I bought my home in a residential neighborhood, with the expectation that I would live next door to other residents, not someone’s real-estate portfolio. I want to know my neighbors, not face a constant stream of strangers coming and going.

But I think it’s misguided to bash visitors. I work somewhat in the tourism industry and currently serve on the Hood River County Visitor Council, so feel free to direct your vitriol at me. I appreciate visitors and the energy they bring to the region. Tourism is an important facet of our economy. Many of our locally owned businesses—the nice restaurants, shops and other services we enjoy—couldn’t survive without the summer influx of tourism dollars. (If you don’t believe that, there are plenty of depressed logging towns in the Pacific Northwest you can visit.) We do spend money on tourism, funded by a tax on lodging. Obviously, we understand that we don’t need to promote Hood River County in the already busy summer season. We use the funds to keep those restaurants, hotels and shops viable in the off-season when they need the business. We promote things like winter activities, the film festival in November, the orchards and wineries in spring and fall. We are lucky to have the kinds of visitors we do: people who appreciate the incredible natural beauty, participate in environmentally low-impact outdoor activities, and enjoy our easygoing, small-town vibe.

Many residents, including me, first came here as tourists. One of the coolest aspects of Hood River is that it’s a small town filled with interesting people who have settled here from all over the place. If we don’t get a handle on housing prices, that will go away. It will turn into a soulless place of absentee landlords, while “regular people” get pushed out. We want to avoid that fate, which has plagued too many once-wonderful places. Despite rumors, the City Council has not issued any decrees; people are putting options on the table, which will be open to public comment.