“Generally Irritable” host Ericka Redic interviews Julie Marks, director of the Vermont Short-Term Rental Alliance, to examine how Burlington and Montpelier are infringing on the sharing economy and worsening the cost of living.
Image courtesy of Generally Irritable
I don’t have the patience to listen to a long video but I will say that trying to present this as people just trying to make a little extra money and “the sharing economy “ is bs. Yes, it’s your property so I suppose you can do what you want with it. But turning apartment after home into AirBnB and other short term rentals, while lucrative for the owners, destabilises the community and deprives the state of direly needed rental housing.
I’m not talking about renting out your extra bedroom or the basement family room to people but entire homes and apartments. We already lack needed rentals as well as homes for purchase. People are accepting jobs here and can’t find a place to live. If a landlord decides they want your apartment for another use and declines to continue renting to you, good luck finding another rental.
Obviously we need more housing, affordable housing and not just high end stuff that out of staters buy. But not doing anything about this while decrying any attempt to reign in short term rentals is a disaster in the making.?