The Austin City Council will vote on a proposed ordinance next Thursday, Aug. 2, that would allow homeowners to permanently rent out houses as short-term rental properties as long as the number of these properties remains under 3% of the homes in a given zip code. Austinite Bill Ley weighs in:
Most you know I'm a Realtor. I just received this email from the Austin Board of Realtors. My reply is below that. I would be grateful if those of you who are so moved would follow up. The email addresses are as follows, and responses must be sent by Thursday, Aug. 2:
government@abor.com, bill@billevans.com, Cathy@cathyconeway.com, matt@abor.com
Dear ABoR member,Austin homeowners need your help now. Efforts to ban short-term rentals (single-family homes leased for less than 30 days) or severely limit homeowners' rights are in full force.
The Austin Board of REALTORS® supports reasonable regulation of short-term rentals (STRs) that protects private property rights, neighborhoods and tenants. A proposal offered by Council Member Chris Riley does just that.
In order to pass that proposal, City Council must approve the ordinance with a final vote on August 2. Any additional regulation would infringe upon private property rights, and we can't let that happen.
Recent efforts of some opposing groups are endangering the final passage of the proposal we support. Proponents of a ban are organizing and lobbying City Council to add egregious regulation to the proposed ordinance or even ban STRs altogether. We need the collective voice of the largest trade association in town to tell the Austin City Council enough is enough and encourage them to take final action on this balanced solution.
For more information on Council Member Riley's STR proposal, visit KeepAustinReasonable.com.Click "send email" below to tell City Council that we need to pass Council Member Riley's proposal in its original format on August 2.
Thank you,
Leonard Guerrero
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My Reply:
Leonard:
I live in SOCO. STR [short-term rental property] is NOT a good thing for my business, my family or my neighbors. I do not appreciate ABoR sticking its nose into City politics under the thin guise of "property rights." What about OUR property rights? How would YOU like to your raise kids next door to an adult party house? Even the quiet ones not real neighbors, just strangers who change twice a week and neither have nor feel any responsibility to those around them.
We already have a concentration of STR between S. 1st and S. Congress. How many SFR homes are there in Austin? 50,000 minimum? 3% of that is 1,500. We only have 1,700 SFR homes in our whole neighborhood going all the way from S. Congress to S. Lamar. The majority of STRs are already heavily concentrated in my neighborhood, just look at the Home Away map. And Home Away has only a fraction of the STR market.
STR is no different than zoning, and infringes no more on property rights. This is an abusive end run around legitimate zoning, wholesale conversion of entire residential neighborhoods to commercial.
If you're going to broadcast a "call to action" to a mostly uninformed membership, at least have the integrity to broadcast an opposing view. Failure to do so highlights our public image as just another greedy, self serving, special interest group.
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