On Tuesday, the Bozeman City Commission is presenting a proposed ordinance that would make the city aware of short-term rentals operating in the city by working with platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo.
“Soon enough is never soon enough,” says Lilly Durtka, a leader with Bozeman Tenants United.
“This is a very specific thing. You know, it's part of a larger discussion,” says Deputy Mayor Terry Cunningham.
The City of Bozeman is proposing an ordinance that it says will give the city more leverage as to how many short-term rentals operate in the city.
“To require Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, etc. to require a license from short-term rentals prior to allowing them to advertise on their platform,” says Deputy Mayor Terry Cunningham.
Members of Bozeman Tenants United who have been pushing for the city to ban Type Two and Three short-term rentals say this is a step in the right direction.
“It’s a necessary first step,” says Durtka.
Cunningham says this proposed ordinance would require platforms to tell the city who is operating a short-term rental.
“The difficulty is in monitoring and policing that we found it to be very expensive, time consuming. And so by putting that back upon Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, etc., and making them prove that there's a valid license, that that's going to be a much more efficient way of going about it than us having to, you know, play catch up,” says Cunningham.
The city says their focus with this proposed ordinance is public safety for guests and those who rent out their home.
“We think it's an important one because it requires, you know, the basic things that we ask of short-term rentals that they have, the inspections that they're properly licensed, etc. And to us, it's a public safety thing,” says Cunningham.
Cunningham says starting here is a small part of the bigger issue as the city works towards tackling the housing crisis.
“This the future of part of regulation, of short-term rentals for most cities and towns,” says Cunningham.
Durtka says that Bozeman Tenants United will be following closely as the city looks at the issue of short-term rentals in the city.
“I really look forward to how our city commissioners will take us seriously in this vote,” says Durtka.
The city commission will host its first reading of the proposed ordinances Tuesday; a second reading of the ordinance will still need to take place in the coming weeks. Public comment will be taking place during this time.
If the proposed ordinance does pass both readings, Cunningham says that the ordinance might take longer to go into effect because the city would need to work with the platforms.
