Homes Are Not Hotels

HOMES ARE NOT HOTELS

WHAT ARE VACATION RENTALS?

Vacation rentals are homes that are bought for the sole purpose of renting them out as “short-term rentals” on sites like AirBnB. The owners do not live there.

Vacation rentals can be rented at a much higher nightly rate than long-term rentals, making them more profitable for investors. Absentee investors are buying up homes in the Hudson Valley and converting them into unregulated hotels, effectively turning our neighborhoods into playgrounds for tourists and contributing to our region’s housing shortage.

Photograph of a young man holding a sign that says Housing is NOT a Commodity

IMPACT ON THE HOUSING MARKET

Absentee investors are buying up homes in the the Hudson Valley so that they can make a quick profit off of vacation rentals, causing a housing shortage for renters and homebuyers that is leading to skyrocketing rents, home prices, and property taxes.

The University of Massachusetts-Boston Department of Economics; the The Social Science Research Network; and McGill University have all conducted studies proving that with each increase in Airbnb listings in a U.S. ZIP code, there are increases in rental and housing prices.

THE SOLUTION

We’re aiming to pass laws locally to address the issues with vacation rentals. Our proposed legislation would:

Ban vacation rentals Create a registration process Issue hefty fines for violations

Ban vacation rentals

Create a registration process

Issue hefty fines for violations

By banning vacation rentals, we’re getting at the root of the issue. Renting out entire houses or apartments as vacation rentals significantly limits housing options for long-term residents.

Our proposed legislation would require short-term rental hosts to submit documentation under penalty of perjury that certifies that their short-term rental listing is their primary residence and that they will be present at the time of the rental. This ensures that short-term rentals are hosted by people who actually live in our community, not outside investors.

Municipalities will enforce the law by checking registered short-term rentals against data from vacation rental platforms. Hosts who list properties that are not their primary residence and platforms that facilitate transactions from unregistered listings will both be issued hefty fines.

SIGN THE PETITION

Add your name in support of short-term rental regulation and we’ll send a signed petition to your municipal representatives on your behalf.

Add your name: Homes are not Hotels!

Dear Councilperson,

Your constituents are facing an extreme housing crisis: skyrocketing rents facing tenants, high prices for first-time home-buyers, and entire neighborhoods eroding due to gentrification. Many of these issues are being exacerbated by unregulated vacation rentals.

Absentee investors come into town and buy up our housing so they can make a quick profit off these vacation rentals - which are short-term rentals where the owner lives off-site. This shrinks the available housing supply for long term residents, drives up rents, and turns our residential neighborhoods into unregulated hotel districts.

We are proposing common sense regulations that would put an end to vacation rentals, and create a registration and permitting system for owner-occupied short-term rentals. These regulations don't punish people who want to rent out a spare bedroom in their home to help pay the bills.

Local governments must act to protect housing affordability and the character of our residential neighborhoods, and affirm that our homes are not hotels. We urge you and your colleagues to act to protect residents by passing short-term rental regulation.