Yesterday, San Bernardino County held the last meeting of a series of meetings to study the effects of short-term rentals on long-term rental housing. Colin Drucker of PlaceWorks and San Bernardino County Planning Director Heidi Duran ran the session, showed a slide presentation, and received questions from a packed audience.
In 2022, San Bernardino County hired PlaceWorks to run a series of studies, examine data from various resources, and evaluate how STRs affect the housing market. Last night’s meeting was the last public meeting before a report will be filled at the end of the year. The main focus of this study is how many people lost their homes when the residence was sold or turned over into a short-term rental. Over 100 people were present; many submitted questions that the firm would evaluate and add to their extensive study.
Most prevalent through the meeting was that short-term housing increased during COVID-19 and with the increase of high-speed internet. As people can work from home, they are looking for beautiful, new places to live, which has driven rental and housing prices up among shifting economics. Many attendees asked about density caps and hoped the County would enforce an immediate moratorium on additional STR permits. Drucker and Duron repeatedly said that the findings from this meeting and other resources would be compiled and suggestions made to the County when all the data was in. When asked about the areas from Landers to Lucerne and whether a meeting would be held for those residents, Drucker said this study does not look at the north desert.
The STR market is changing, and there is a notable downturn; the question is whether the downturn will remain or rebound. And it still doesn’t answer how the County will supply affordable housing for low-income families and local workers.
