Rethinking Rentals

East Hampton Town Councilwoman Cate Rogers deserves credit for doing a deep dive into an issue that should be top of mind in both town halls and every village hall on the South Fork: the impact of short-term rentals on the overall housing market.

Affordable housing is a constant conversation, but too often the focus is on the price of real estate. That’s clearly a key factor in making communities less affordable to live in, but it’s not the only one. In fact, the impact of short-term rentals, particularly via the explosion of booking websites and apps, arguably has had a greater impact, by devouring every single rental property and asking, and getting, premium rates for stays of days or weeks. As a result, the year-round rental market has evaporated, removing one way a working person or family could afford to stay here.

Rogers points to one aspect of that phenomenon: investors who own rental properties solely because short-term rentals are ridiculously profitable. Often, these are not people who live on the South Fork; they are corporations or investors from elsewhere who only see dollar signs and nothing more.

The benefits of short-term rentals are many in a seasonal economy, and there’s definitely a benefit for homeowners who want to rent space a few times a year to make their own housing costs more affordable. But that’s not the norm anymore in East Hampton or Southampton towns. “There are now investment companies that advertise on how to maximize the ‘hotel-ification’ of your house,” Rogers noted. A region famous, for many decades, for its lack of hotels now has a glut of, essentially, hotel rooms at the ready.

Rogers is still researching the issue before proposing solutions. But this is a conversation that should include more voices, and it’s time to talk about significant action. For example, on the North Fork, Southold Town has seen the devastation short-term rentals cause, and it’s tightening the rules.

One simple idea: Eliminate the phenomenon of investor-owned rentals by instituting, and enforcing, an owner-occupancy requirement. You must live in any property yourself for a significant period of the year in order to gain the right to rent it out, or to rent space. That would return the economic benefit where it belongs, instead of creating a windfall for crafty money men.

Whatever the outcome, it must start with the kinds of conversations Rogers is beginning to have — and that makes her the type of leader we need.