Unaffordable housing is a problem for cities all across the western region of the United States, and getting affordable housing is a top priority for Nevada and Placer County.
The town of Truckee, Nevada County and Placer County are a part of the Mountain Housing Council of Tahoe Truckee. The council also consists of several special districts, non-profits, and local networks. It's an effort to address the housing shortage at a regional level.
Pat Davison, representative from the Contractor's Association of Truckee Tahoe, has led the council regarding approaches to address the housing supply. Davison says there isn't enough affordable housing for workers.
"This is for the person who maybe is commuting up from Reno," Davison says. "They want to live here, but there's no housing so how can we increase the supply for that person."
Davison says there is so little available, even locals have a hard time being flexible.
"Maybe the house is too big for them and they really need something that is smaller," Davison says. "But again, that type of unit isn't available."
Davison says the goal is to find ways to attract building new units, whether it's contractors building new homes, or homeowners adding on to their property.
"You can talk about some fee reductions or deferral," Davison says. "You can talk about expedited processing so the project plans get through quicker, you can also talk about relaxing development standards."
While a housing shortage makes the uphill climb as long one, the council is also discussing an urgent issue in short-term rentals. Allowing STR's like Airbnb has hurt the long-term renting in the region only lowering the number of units available for employees.
Another issue is disturbance. South Lake Tahoe has put a cap on the number of vacation home rentals they'll allow in the city, the number of people allowed at a rental, and installed large fines for owners and renters to encourage cordial behavior within neighborhoods. STR's take up 12 percent of all units in the Tahoe Truckee area, and the rules around them need to address all parties.
"Nuisance is an issue," Sage Sauerbrey, Associate Editor for Moonshine Inc., says. "The sanctity of the neighborhood and just the character of a neighborhood is important."
Still, many residents, including an example read at Saturday's council meeting, use short-term rentals for extra money just so they can remain in their home.
"You need to walk the line where locals can still utilize this as a supplementary income source," Sauerbrey says. "It actually allows them to stay in the area, but you can't have it eat up the entire housing and workforce inventory."
The council is still in the early stages of gathering information and possible solutions, but Sauerbrey went over a few examples during the meeting. He brought up South Lake Tahoe's Mitigation techniques stated above. He also brought up examples of cities changing their zoning to push STR's to specific areas, limiting the number of days a residence can be rented out, and forcing residents to live in the unit for a minimum amount of time per year.
He also used Arizona as an example of no regulations harming residents. He says one city if Arizona had strong regulations before the state de-regulated STR's completely, and there were instances of entire apartment complexes getting evicted to convert it to a STR.
Sauerbrey stressed the balance in policy, and Davison says the collaboration is an efficient way to address a serious problem that will take a long time to fix.
"Maybe it's a baby step here and a baby step there," Davison says. "But the main thing is that we have some progress and some forward momentum."
For more information on the council head to, http://www.ktvn.com/link/800307/mountain-housing-council-website
