HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-19-23 Public Comment - B. Gray - Short Term Rentals Braxton Gray
(406)-599-4405
217 Mineral ave
Bozeman MT, 59718
3rd April 2023
Bozeman City Commission
121 N Rouse Ave.
Bozeman MT, 59715
Dear Bozernan City Commission,
My name is Braxton Gray and I am a resident of Bozeman that has watched my
parents struggle to pay bills and live in this town. As many individuals that live
in this town know, Bozeman gets many tourists for skiing in Big Sky and
Bridger Bowl, which is great for the economy at first glance. The money they
are bringing into our resorts is great. However, as you know, there are zero
hotels in Bridger Bowl and only 5 in Big Sky. As many people with wealth do,
they will rent a short-term rental instead of staying in a packed hotel. You know
that this is a problem for the people that live in Bozeman due to those rentals
raising the cost of full-time housing rent.
According to Renata Munfrada, the city's housing community housing
coordinator, there are 163 registered short-term rentals but the software
community shows that there are 463 active rentals. These statistics mean
people are lying about having short-term rentals, so without more research put
into the number of rentals, there isn't a definite number of how many rentals
Bozeman has. Although you can't do anything about other towns I think it's
good to know that this problem extends out of Bozeman as well. Jesse
Bedyan on pbs.org shows that Steamboat Springs, CO has many short-term
rentals which have caused median home prices to jump 68% since the
beginning of 2020. Steamboat had such a problem that they started
converting hotels into homes for families. A 500-square-foot rental was
averaging the price of$2,800 per month. I feel that this town should not let
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the abundance of short-term rentals lead families to live in such a small space
for such a high rate.
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Now I will go into others opinions on the topic starting with Jarrett Skorupin his
article "States should ban the bans on short-term rentals." "They violate
property rights, preventing people from using their homes, condos,
apartments or land how they seem fit" This does make sense, why should
people who are renting their houses out be told what to do with their
property? In Bozeman's economy a regular size house is expensive for an
average-income family to afford, so why pay for a house you are going to rent
out to people, instead of saving that for a family that needs a home? Jarrett
also explains his view on how these short-term rentals are good for the
economy because without them the flow of tourism will be bad and there
would be inconvenient stays for the few tourists that still come around. There
needs to be a solution that helps the people living in this town, but still keeps
the flow of tourists that bring money to the community.
Lowering the number of short-term rentals in Bozeman will help families of low
incomes afford to live in a place they love. It will take a while for the housing
prices to lower but if we start to get rid of the rentals,there will eventually be
enough housing for those who love the state to live here. To not stop the flow
of tourism there needs to be housing for tourists as well. Those who rent out
short-term rentals make a good amount of money from renters, so instead of
renting them a short time, the city should propose that they rent long term to
people that are looking to live full time in Bozeman. For the tourism side of the
town, there should be condos and apartments built near the skiing resorts that
are specifically for tourists that come in, so they don't have a comfortable
place to stay but aren't taking home from people in Bozeman.
Sincerely,
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Braxton Gray
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