Washington, D.C. welcomed 22.8 million visitors in 2017, a 3.6 percent increase from the previous year. District residents know that sharing the District – be it the sidewalk, a local restaurant, or directions to the Museum of Natural History – comes with the territory of living and working in the nation’s capital.
In a city that is so used to sharing its attractions, the City Council’s decision to tightly regulate alternative accommodations is jarringly incongruous.
The sharing of the city isn’t a one-way street, after all. Those visitors spent $7.5 billion in the District in 2017, supporting jobs and small businesses across the metro area. And that economic boost will fizzle out in the wake of a proposed ordinance that would significantly limit short-term rentals and would have dire financial impacts in the community.
In Wards 7 and 8 in the District, hosts and owners say renting their homes on short-term rental sites means they are bringing tourists and their money into areas that have failed to benefit from D.C.’s booming tourism industry. There are numerous stories of owners and operators who have relied on this flexible income in times of unemployment or financial difficulties. Those opportunities are now in serious jeopardy.
The Travel Technology Association, a national organization, has been up close and personal on the issue of short-term rentals in many other cities. We understand the concerns of policymakers, short-term rental owners, operators, and hosts, as well as those of community residents across the country. Again and again, we see that communities with fair and reasonable short-term rental laws reap the benefits of tax revenue, tourism, and important income for local residents and businesses.
It’s clear that bans or near-bans on whole home rentals are far too limiting. Instead, policies that allow a pathway for all types of short-term rentals in the marketplace are necessary to creating common-sense standards. In turn, such standards lead to higher compliance rates, more effective enforcement and greater benefits for local economies.
Cities that have enacted bans on residential short-term rentals have faced significant challenges. These include strained enforcement efforts, resulting in lower compliance rates and lost tax revenue, as well as costly and burdensome legal challenges. With respect to the City Council’s current proposal, the District’s own Chief Financial Officer has issued a fiscal impact statement laying out the more than $104 million dollar projected cost of the city’s ordinance over the next four years – a combination of both lost tax revenue and the new cost of enforcement and compliance under the proposed ordinance.
The City Council needs to address the regulation of short-term rentals with reasonable limitations rather than harsh overarching restrictions that will negatively affect small businesses and residents. The current proposal is both costly and overly restrictive, and will probably only drive much of the city’s current short-term rental activity underground.
In order to continue enjoying the benefits of tourism and partnership, city officials must reconsider their proposed unreasonable regulations, and instead work not just to protect the city’s historic and tourist-friendly neighborhoods, but also allow visitors to the District to enjoy them. By creating sound and reasonable regulatory policy, the City Council can address the concerns of some residents while still allowing short-term rentals to support the others, as well as the local economy.
Matthew Kiessling is the Vice President, Short-Term Rental Policy for the Travel Technology Association, the trade association representing the leading innovators in travel technology, including global distribution systems, online travel agencies and metasearch companies, and short-term rental platforms.
