EUGENE STR regulations being considered by city concil

[Valerie157]

Hello Fellow Eugene Airbnb Host,

I’m writing to tell you that the Eugene City Council is in the process of trying to railroad through an ordinance that would put the short-term rental (STR) market out of business. Since the majority of that market is through AirBnB, I’m contacting all hosts. The ordinance they want to adopt will severely limit, if not completely prohibit your ability to operate your Air BnB, particularly if you have a non-owner occupied AirBnB. The City Council wants to pass, before the end of the year, the following provisions:

1.    Expensive and complicated licensing and accompanying fee to cover the cost of inspections and enforcement of regulation.

2.    Banning non-owner occupied short-term rentals altogether, meaning, you have to live in your STR if you want to rent any part of it.

3.    Limit of 90 days total occupancy per year for each STR, with a limit of 30 days for each individual reservation.

4.    Guest registry and local contact: Guests must register with the City prior to their stay and host must be a resident of Eugene.

5.    Regular inspections of property could include, compliance with adequate parking per guest ratio, proper garbage disposal, total # of guests permitted per house, etc 

6.    Separation requirements – meaning, only one STR per neighborhood. If your neighbor down the street is AirBnBing a room, and gets a license before you do, you can’t AirBnB a room, an ADU, or even a couch.

The City Council is moving quickly to pass this ordinance. Just because they intend to, doesn’t mean they will. We can stop them!

Time is of the essence. Here is what you need to do:

Contact your City Counselor via email and phone.  You can find out who your Counselor is by Googling "Eugene City Council" and typing in your home address.  Tell them how important AirBnB is to you, and to the City of Eugene. The following are some talking points to use:

• This is not an “Us vs. Them” issue. People who list their homes through Airbnb are local Eugene homeowners.  They are our neighbors and friends. They use Airbnb and Homeaway to advertise their home in order to earn a little extra money.  This enables our friends and neighbors to stay home to take care of their kids, to make ends meet if they lose a job or get laid off, to not grind away in a second or third job, to retire, and even to keep their home. In other words, to maintain and improve their livability in their neighborhood.

• In 2017, Eugene AirBnB and Homeaway collected from guests and paid to Lane County approximately 1 million in occupancy taxes.

• STR’s are better for the environment than hotels and motels.  They do not utilize Single Use Products, guests are encouraged to recycle while staying at the house, many hosts choose to use "green" cleaning products, towels and linens do not get unnecessarily washed. 

• STR’s support Eugene's local economy in multiple ways. Not only do they give homeowners a little extra income, but they also support local businesses, artists, restaurants, retailers, brands, events and entertainment through host recommendations.  Hosts even introduce guests to local products such as Ninkasi, BNF kombucha, Mountain Rose Herbs, Yumm Sauce, Blue Lotus Chai, and Glory Bee, and Off the Waffle, to name a few. 

• The STR market is an integral part of the 21st century global economy. It’s thriving because there is a DEMAND for it.  This global market caters to traveling medical professionals, consultants, computer code writers, researchers, post-docs, and of course the many families visiting their students at the University and Lane Community College. These travelers need a place to live while working/visiting Eugene for a couple of days/weeks/months. They don’t want to live in a hotel for weeks or months at a time, nor should they. 

• The STR market forwards the values of diversity and equity, values Eugene prides itself on. People from all over the country and the world come visit Eugene. Through AirBnB, horizons are expanded. Global connections are made. Ideas are spread. New ways of thinking are introduced and fostered.

• STR's allow travelers to experience Eugene at its best- as a local, tucked in a sweet neighborhood with friendly neighbors on all sides, with recommendations on our best local sights, eats and fun.

• Eugene doesn’t have anywhere near an adequate number of hotels to support the burgeoning citys’ tourism.  If STR's are forced to close down, the city and local businesses would lose an enormous amount of money. Equally important, a new, innovative, healthy and thriving economic engine for our area will be eradicated for no tangible reason other than indolence on the part of the mayor and city council. They need to hire a consultant to perform a comprehensive LOCAL study of the issue.  

• We need a formal, professional LOCAL study done on the STR market before we regulate it. Right now, Eugene is in a very unique position to study this new economic driver on the scene due to it’s thriving development in the Eugene/Springfield area. Because it’s so new, it’s ‘unknown’. People tend to fear the unknown. People also tend to ‘blame’ new innovators for old problems, if the old problem is still rampant. This is happening in regards to the affordable housing crisis. The desire among politicians and bureaucrats is to blame STR’s for putting inordinate pressure on the housing market by taking potential long- term rentals off the market, thereby significantly contributing to the affordable housing crisis. This simply isn’t the case. And if it is, how would we know? No objective comprehensive LOCAL studies have been done to corroborate the claim.

• Homeowners have a right to rent out their home, just like landlords do but short-term instead of long-term. Eugene already has more than adequate codes on the books to deal with issues that arise from rental properties. If a neighbor is experiencing a problem with their neighbor about how the rental property is managed? With short-term rentals, the neighbor can go have a talk with their neighbor to resolve the problem. This isn’t often the case with long-term rentals, where property management companies are the face of absentee landlords. We don’t need to over-codify on a city-wide scale, an issue or conflict that can be resolved face to face between neighbors in a neighborhood. The regulations proposed by city council in fact dissuade a sense of community, neighborliness, and ‘livability’ rather than encourage it. 

There currently is no voice advocating for the enormous benefits of the short-term rental market.  We need to gather a group of passionate AirBnB hosts, homeowners and neighbors together to let the Eugene City Council know why Airbnb is so important to our city, to tourism, and to us.  We have scheduled a meeting for Thursday, November 7th at 7:00pm in order to connect and organize ourselves for the political battle ahead. Please email kate at katedavidson dot org if you can make it. She will email you back with the meeting location, yet to be determined.

It's time to find out who your City Counselor is and contact them right away. If you want extra credit, contact your County Commissioner as well. They have a horse in this race. Transient Room Taxes are collected and disbursed to the cities by the County. Use the above talking points, and any others you can think of that are compelling and true. Please make sure your written and verbal communication with your city counselor is polite, civil, non-reactive, clear. We don’t want to add fuel to the fire. This is likely going to shape up to be an intense political battle. As many as possible will need to show up to the public hearing, and speak passionately about our positive experiences with AirBnB so as to put a stop to the city council’s ill-conceived ‘business license program’ and its’ accompanying ordinances. The train has left the station, unfortunately. However, Hannah and I are confident that with your immediate help, we can switch it’s track. 

Thank you and we hope to see you soon,

Kate & Hannah&Valerie
(Fellow Eugene Super-Hosts)

Kate Davidson

Eugene City Council Candidate Ward 2

541-337-9276

[Scott-and-Kathy0]

Wonderful post Kate, Hannah and Valerie. So sorry you are going through this, but it doesn't surprise me. We are about to lose our Airbnb due to proposed regulations by Clackamas County.  I hope you are successful in blunting these proposals.  Do you know what's driving them?  Clackamas county is being very sneaky in their process and I think there is a rat in the pile.

Scott