Short-term rental controversy burns

Thank you for your editorial. I have had wonderful experiences with short term rentals as a host and a guest in Denver. I am an advocate for your suggestion that each Denver city resident be able to rent one additional property in addition to their primary residence. The impact on my family that our short-term rental income has had is substantial. Our quality of life has improved, our neighbors have only positive things to say about our renters and we re-invest in our home as a result of the extra money. Please emphasize the positives at least as much as any perceived negatives. Thank you!

I don’t quite understand how people just trying to make an honest living at something equates to a life-changing event such as being charged with a felony. Short-term rentals help bring in tons of tourist revenue. In some districts in Denver, there are few to no hotels and people’s rentals allow those districts to receive some of the much-needed tourist dollars. The city should go after real criminals, not micro-hotel hosts!

Short-term rentals have become an easy business to target or use as a scapegoat for the city and the short term renters committee. The city of Denver is going through growing pains right now, and this is normal in a market where we have had such massive growth over the last five years.

The city has started its enforcement, and this is necessary. However, I don’t agree with excise and license policing the short-term rental market to intimidate or threaten homeowners. The majority are law-abiding and providing a necessary service for travelers who could not otherwise afford to stay in our beautiful city.

I am not currently a landlord in this market, but I feel creating stricter regulations is not the answer. We have regulations, and they are working. The proof is shown in the recent arrests. If the city is so worried about people abusing the rules, they should be looking for outliers that have unlicensed homes and are paying no taxes or license fees.

Much venom in this editorial’s tone. Unfortunate that a reputable team chose to make harmful claims like “short-term rentals have a disparate impact on neighborhoods” without supporting evidence to justify the damage histrionic claims cause.

Digging into the evidence might require talking to some of the local property owners who take immense pride in their short-term rental (STR), keep it sparkling to attract select guests, drive new business to the coffee shop on their block, and without exception have every incentive to impact our community in a positive way. Perhaps more evidence like some of the thousands of raving reviews guests from around the world leave behind, citing their incredible experience in the home, neighborhood and state of Colorado they just enjoyed.

What Jon Caldara is forgetting is that Airbnb, if not regulated, turns every single-family zoned neighborhood into one with a potential hotel next door. What homeowner wants that?

Did Caldara think of that or does he so believe in individual rights that he abhors zoning as well?

Your September 6 paper features as its editorial, a shout-out for strict enforcement of Denver’s current restrictions on Airbnb/vrbo rentals. Yet in the same issue, The Denver Post has an announcement (by a New York venture capitalist) of a forthcoming 17-room “boutique hotel” featuring not only a bar and restaurant, but sleeping quarters with “double sized” bunk beds, all to be crammed onto a “single lot and blank canvas” on the 3600 block of Navajo Street — and evidently without proper off-street parking.

This company plans to build, around Denver, 10 similarly overbuilt hotels. Please, City Council, step in with some common sense before that happens.