COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Coeur d'Alene is known for its beautiful scenery, amazing events, and a plethora of businesses; that's why people flock to the city and stay in short-term rentals.
Throughout the last year, the city took steps to limit the increase in short-term rentals. However, some property owners oppose the city's actions.
For people anxiously waiting for the summer sun, vacation planning is already underway; for some, that might mean a trip to Coeur d'Alene. The city has an abundance of hotels to choose from, but many visitors opt for a short-term rental, like an Airbnb, instead.
On the Airbnb website, there are currently more than 600 places to choose from, a common sight for some short-term rental owners.
Kelsi McKay runs 11 of those short-term rentals in Coeur d'Alene, and said the market has grown substantially in just one year.
"There's so much competition," McKay said. "Everyone's fighting for those same dollars."
It's this growth of short-term rentals that the city is trying to manage.
"I find a lot of those owners agree that, yeah, eight on a block is a bit too much," City Councilmember Dan Gookin said.
In early 2023, the city of Coeur d'Alene hired Granicus, an agency based in Minnesota, to help regulate short-term rentals. According to Gookin, the city's main goal was to find unpermitted short-term rental owners and, in turn, limit the number of rentals in the city.
Of the 750 short-term rentals registered in Coeur d'Alene, Gookin said just under 700 have been issued licenses. The city can now regulate which short-term rentals cause problems and which ones are up to code.
"We don't need the government trampling on our private property rights in order to keep a healthy short-term rental community," said Melissa Radford, a short-term rental owner and president of the CDA Vacation Rental Alliance.
Radford said the non-profit works to achieve a more accurate impression of the positive impacts of short-term rentals.
"We've seen lots of short-term rentals actually go up for sale," she said. "I think that that balance has really more naturally occurred."
In the past year, Radford said fewer than 1% of complaints police received came from short-term rentals. She believes the city isn't backing up what it is saying.
"The complaint data really supports our assertions that short-term rentals are not the nuisance," she said.
The city told KREM 2 that those numbers are accurate. In many situations, people won't call the police and will resolve issues neighbor-to-neighbor.
A Granicus hotline can now take those calls.
"Now they can call and complain and not feel bad about bothering the police," Gookin said. "So we log those."
Coeur d'Alene paid Granicus $50,000 to come up with its data. Last year, the city also raised the price of permit renewals to $180.
"The permit itself makes sure that everyone does it properly, and that it is safe for guests and people," McKay said. "But as far as limiting them, I don't think that goes with any of what Idaho stands for."
McKay said she agrees with other short-term rental owners who say Granicus was a waste of money.
"It certainly didn't help non-STR homeowners, and it certainly didn't help STR owners at all," she added.
The city has yet to shut down any short-term rentals.
"This has to be done very gradually over time," Gookin said. "I think the owners are aware that something is going to come."
Gookin advised those operating a short-term rental without a permit to get one. People can be fined $1,000 for operating without a permit.
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