Charleston targets vacation rentals as it tackles tourism-related problems in downtown neighborhoods
By Abigail Darlington, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Pfeiffer has a separate suite in her downtown
"Hi, Ellen," someone named Shannon wrote on the site's messaging service, according to records Pfeiffer provided to
"Shannon. Sorry for the confusion," Pfeiffer replied in the message. "The
Hours later, Pfeiffer answered a knock on her door expecting to see Shannon, who had asked to come by to scope out the rental. Instead, she was met by a city livability code officer, who handed her a
Pfeiffer, who has lived in the same house downtown for 10 years, said the city's strategy felt like entrapment.
"I believe this is a real overreach. This is my house. I pay my property taxes," Pfeiffer said. "I don't think I'm impacting anybody negatively by doing this."
Pfeiffer isn't the only resident that's been hit with the citation recently. When the city found out a few months ago that residents were using online lodging services to list their homes as vacation rentals, the livability division started doing online sting operations like the one with Pfeiffer, city planner
In the past two months, 13 livability code citations with a maximum fine of
The recent increase in enforcement comes as the city works with the
The livability department is in the process of hiring three new enforcement officers to keep an eye out for violators.
Keane said they're specifically targeting the vacation rental ordinance because downtown neighborhoods are already steeped in enough tourism activity. Residents of Cannonborough-Elliottborough are allowed to host vacation rentals because the neighborhood leaders said they wanted more visitors in the area, Keane said.
But it's a problem in all the other neighborhoods, he added, because short-term rentals exacerbate parking problems and threaten the "healthy neighborhood dynamic."
"Creating what essentially becomes hotel rooms within neighborhoods is absolutely not something we see as appropriate for
He said that if people are renting suites that are separate from their main houses, they should be renting those to long-term tenants instead of vacationers.
"The fact is, we really need more rental units downtown," he said.
Historic burden
Residents on the peninsula, whether they're using the vacation rental websites or not, agree that it's an easy way to offset the cost of owning a home downtown.
Beam said he prefers to rent his house for a month or even longer whenever possible.
"But if I have a whole month open and somebody wants it for a week, I can't afford to just let it sit," he said.
Beam said he can make more than
"I'm retired, so it's between that and
Pfeiffer said she decided to start renting out the private suite in her house for the same financial reasons.
"It obviously is a very supplemental income, and it's something I'd like to continue doing," she said. "Obviously, it's getting more expensive to live here, with the utilities, maintenance, the insurance."
She also understands why vacation rentals have become so common downtown.
"Expenses for these homes keep going up. And if you're going to keep the diversity of this city, you can't keep putting financial burdens on people in the historic areas because they're seeking ways to alleviate those costs," she said. "There has been talk on the committee of giving tax breaks to historic downtown owners, but that would probably involve city and county issues. So I don't know what the answer is."
'The firm stance'
Keane said the city's answer is to just keep cracking down on the problem with fines until it's no longer a problem.
Pfeiffer said she has stopped renting to visitors but that the city's efforts are futile.
"I don't think it's going to go away. People are going to keep being surreptitious and the city is going to spend more and more money going after this," she said.
Keane didn't deny that.
"What is going to happen is we're going to issue citations, then they're going to change how they advertise and try to hide it from us. This is going to be a long effort ... but we are going to take every measure to make sure this kind of stuff doesn't happen," he said.
Pfeiffer argued that it would make more sense if the city would embrace the new alternative lodging services and collect occupancy taxes from them, as other cities have done.
If that were an option, the strategy could have some merit, according to hotel industry analyst
From his studies on Airbnb and websites like it, Lane said, he has found that the alternative lodging services have attracted visitors to cities that may not have otherwise been drawn to those destinations.
"For a lot of markets, that could mean travelers coming that wouldn't have otherwise stayed in a hotel room. So the hotels aren't getting the revenue, but they wouldn't have gotten it anyway. Now they're spending other money in the city, whether it's spending money at the attractions or restaurants or other things," Lane said.
Pfeiffer said that's precisely why she feels like Airbnb is a good thing for the city.
"These are people that couldn't afford
Keane said the city's position on the issue won't be influenced by the potential for more tourists or extra tax revenues.
"We're not really open to looking at how to allow this in the neighborhoods. We just don't think it's appropriate here," he said. "This is the firm stance because this really isn't about the visitor economy. It's about our neighborhoods being preserved."
Reach
Dealing with rentals issues elsewhere
In
Critics also say Airbnb is given an unfair advantage over hotels because it doesn't pay accommodations taxes. The company is pushing for a measure in
Companies like Airbnb have created a worldwide phenomenon, now referred to as the sharing economy, driven by new tech-based programs that provide a marketplace for person-to-person services such as transportation or lodging .
The leading companies offering share services are Airbnb and Uber, an app that allows passengers to catch rides with everyday drivers for small fares. Both are based in
While the companies argue that their new technologies have improved conditions for consumers, many legislatures aren't sure whether to let the new companies go unregulated for the sake of innovation.
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