Fwd: CIty Council wants to allow Short Term Rentals on Every Lot

[Susan Jackson]

FYI!

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Community Not Commodity <in...@communitynotcommodity.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 10, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Subject: CIty Council wants to allow Short Term Rentals on Every Lot
To: <berlinsk...@gmail.com>

Austin City Council are expanding the authorization for short-term rentals (STRs) to “all residential uses in all zoning districts with a valid STR license”.

Council Undermining Housing For Residents and Families Dear Susan,   The Austin City Council is starting 2025 where they left off in 2024 – undermining single-family neighborhoods. They are expanding the authorization for short-term rentals (STRs) to “all residential uses in all zoning districts with a valid STR license”.   The new ordinance says that “Short-term rental use cannot be prohibited”.  Council members claim they want to increase housing in the city of Austin. Yet, this STR proposal will reduce available housing in Austin.  Every STR takes a home available for a family off of the market. Additionally, many STRs disrupt the lives of those around them with partygoers and inconsiderate out-of-towners    The City has not demonstrated that it will provide the budget and staff necessary to enforce the ordinance’s licensing requirements and police those STRs that disturb the peace.  Currently there are around 2200 legal STRs in the city and  at least seven times more that are not legal as shown in the “Inside Airbnb database”.  There has been little enforcement of the illegal STRs. A Planning Commission hearing on the Council’s proposals is set for February 11, 2025, at 6 pm. To testify by phone or in person, follow these directions. A final hearing (and probable action) before the City Council is set for February 27th at 10:00 am.  Action items, below.  The City’s rationale for these amendments is that they must conform our STR regulations to recent court decisions, but they go beyond what those cases require. The court decisions do not doom the city to an endless proliferation of STRs. For example, the City could prohibit STRs on properties purchased after the effective date of the ordinance. They could reduce the disruptive impact of STRs and decrease the economic incentives by limiting the size of STRs and increasing setbacks. Those are just two examples. The City must utilize all lawful options for limiting STRs and prioritize housing for residents over the interests of tourists and investors. It has failed to do so.  If you believe that there should be reasonable limits on the number of STRs in neighborhoods across the city and that the licensing and non-disturbance requirements should be strictly and fully enforced, take these actions now while you can: Call and email your councilmember and tell them that the city needs to redraft the proposal to limit the number of future STRs to preserve housing and commit sufficient money and staffing to enforce the licensing and non-disturbance requirements of the ordinance. Then submit a comment here about your STR experiences and expectations. Tell the Planning Commission about your bad STR experience.   Stand up for Austin neighborhoods with a donation today. Thank you! DONATE If you prefer to donate by check, please make it out to Community Not Commodity and mail it to the following address. Donations are not tax-deductible.   Community Not Commodity P.O. Box 300221 Austin, TX 78703 FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK

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[Sarah]

Thanks for the update Susan! AFAIK, short-term rentals are already legal for every homeowner in Austin, unless your HOA forbids it I suppose. My understanding is that the City needs to rewrite parts the code in order to be able to collect taxes and enforce minimum standards. Is there something I am missing?

[Sarah]

Hi Susan! The City has released their new rules about short-term rentals, and I wanted to let you know that they are promising.

The reason the City had to review the regulations is that our law that banned short term rentals in properties that are not in an owner-occupied property was over-ridden by the State. This is part of a long process where the City tries to curb STRs and the State views this as an unconstutional limitation on property rights. Since the State will not allow cities to set their own policies, the City has decided to focus on licensing.

The new rules require each Austin STR that is listed for rent on a major platform (ie. Airbnb or VRBO) to show their STR license number on the listing. The platforms will now collect the hotel occupancy tax (this is the policy in other Texas cities and it works for them). Also, this makes it easier for the City to enforce their policies. Enforcement used to be a long process that involved collecting evidence that a rental property was a problem, then going into a hearing process with the property owner. Even if the City prevailed, the owners usually just paid the fine and did not change their rental rules. Now, the City can revoke a licence number, which will prevent the property owner from listing the property on the platforms.

Hopefully, this will allow the City to control bad actors. It's the least they can do. Other cities, like Houston and Dallas, are running into the same issues and are experiencing the same handicapping by the State. I'm optimistic that the new ordinances will be effective, but we won't know until they are fully in effect later in the year.