Seeking Solutions In a World Of CouchSurfing
By Mary Beth Susman
Denver City Councilwoman
Why on earth would anyone rent out bedrooms in their homes to strangers? It feels new, but it has a long tradition in boarding houses, particularly in the West.
The practice has recently been enhanced by social media that matches hosts with guests directly. The apps are expanding, with AirBnB, VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner), FlipKey, CouchSurfing, Tripping, HomeExchange, Roomorama, Swap and Surf (only for surfers-of the ocean kind), Camp in My Garden (for campers), and of course Craig’s List, where residents can advertise a portion or the whole of their home for short-term rentals, i.e. less than 30 days.
Because of the array of sites, we have no way to know how many there actually are in Denver. On AirBnB’s offerings, there are currently a little more than 1,000 listings in Denver proper (out of 300,000 households.)
VRBO, which specializes in vacation homes for rent by the day/week, has been around for more than 25 years and is widely used in Colorado’s mountain communities, with around 14,000 listings there. There are some about 300 VRBO listings in Denver proper.
There is also a rising commercialization of short-term rentals, where entrepreneurs buy multiple units to be used as short-term rentals. In New York, the attorney general there found that commercial hosts in that state represent 6 percent of the listings, but receive about 37 percent of the revenue generated from this enterprise.
As for the 94 percent who are not aggregating units to rent, data produced by AirBnB from its Portland, Ore. headquarters relates that 45 percent of their hosts surveyed use the income to stay in their home, and 19 percent use their income for household expenses. 40 percent of hosts earn below the Portland median income of $50,900.
Recurring themes
What does this mean for affordable housing in Denver? It might be surmised that the entrepreneurial activity that purchases residences to use them as short-term rentals may be reducing the inventory of affordable apartments. But when homeowners themselves rent out bedrooms or the whole house for short stays to supplement their income and/or pay the mortgage, it may actually increase Denver’s affordability.
It is cause for deliberation whether we continue our current ban on the practice or support it where it increases affordability.
In our discussions at the Sharing Economy Task Force, there are recurrent themes we have heard:
• Preserve the character of residential neighborhoods
• Protect the safety of neighborhoods
• Protect the safety of citizens and visitors to Denver
• Encourage innovation
• Manage a fair playing field for inns/hotel businesses
• Implement opportunities for affordable and sustainable housing
Current zoning is a starting point to these considerations. Zoning allows roomers and boarders as a home occupation in all zone districts. (Zoning code 11.9.4.15.) Home occupation seekers must apply for a permit. Zoning officials tell us that though there is no time limit mentioned in the roomers/boarders article, under household living, tenancy is defined as month-to-month. (Zoning code 11.12.2.1.)
This means our zoning code makes short-term rentals illegal in residential districts, although it is not always clear to some because of the separation of the information in the code and having to understand what month-to-month tenancy means.
Enforcement is difficult
There are options for us to address this new short-term rental environment. One is to maintain our current zoning code prohibitions and our current practice of sending out neighborhood inspectors when there is a complaint.
We have learned from our neighborhood inspectors that enforcement is difficult because: a) it is not illegal to advertise on any media and b) inspectors must actually find the renter on the property and ascertain proof that they are renting less than 30 days at the time of encounter. Thus it takes many trips, notices, surveillance, etc. to enforce the code.
Another option is to tweak the zoning code to preserve the intent of residential character that allows short-term rentals as a home occupation, but limit it to only those where the host’s property is their primary residence.
We could require that the host seek the right to a home-occupation through our already established system with its required permit application, among other possible restrictions. The “primary residence” requirement would have the effect of prohibiting the purchase of properties just for the purpose of short-term rentals. The caveat to this option is that it would prohibit the VRBO style of rentals, which some residents use when they move to sunnier climes in winter. You probably have neighbors that do this.
Tackling the issue
There are many other issues to be explored about the home-sharing phenomenon and its effect on affordable living, neighborhood stability, and other factors.
I have led a committee since May that has been studying home-sharing, car-sharing and the like, and we will continue to research these practices and discuss with Denver residents for our best decision going forward. You can find information on the meeting times of the Sharing Economy Task Force at denvergov.org/citycouncil under council committees or you can contact my office.
Most cities that have created ordinances that allow it with various restrictions (Portland, Austin, Chicago, San Jose, Nashville, etc.) or have maintained their prohibitions (New York) have spent a year or two analyzing the new wrinkle on home-sharing. I suspect we will need that time too.
For a look at what cities are doing see the National League of Cities report: www.nlc.org/Documents/Find%20City%20Solutions/City-Solutions-and-Applied-Research/Sharing%20Economy%20Brief.pdf
Mary Beth Susman’s city council district currently includes the southern portion of Park Hill. She can be reached at 720-337-5555 or MaryBeth.Susman@denvergov.org. For more on this topic, check out Bernadette Kelly’s Z&P column in the January issue of the Greater Park Hill News, online at greaterparkhill.org.