Short Term Rentals

Commission Adds Real Residency Requirement to STR Permits 

Thank you to everyone who helped fill the room at hearings over the last three years. On April 15, 2019 the Board of Commissioners finally adopted new Short Term Rental regulations.

Under the new regulations, STR operators must be real residents of the STR property. With this in place, Hood River residents can rent out a spare bedroom or even their whole house when on vacation, but it remains their real home. This eliminates STRs as a source of funding for out-of-town investors but allows real residents to earn income, maybe the extra they need to stay in their home or weather economic hard times.

Thanks again for your help in keeping Hood River a real community.

Why do we need new rules for Short Term Rentals?

Hood River is at a tipping point. The county seems to be quickly changing from a vibrant rural county to an exclusive resort community where it’s harder and harder for working folks to find an affordable place to live. One factor is the unprecedented growth in Short Term Rentals which have started to impact housing affordability and neighborhood livability.

Over the last few years, the number of Short Term Rentals (aka “STRs” or vacation rentals) and second homes in Hood River city and county has skyrocketed, gobbling up our housing stock and driving home prices even higher and out of range for many local people. The number of second homes and vacation homes has doubled in the last 7 years: now about 8% of our housing stock is not available for year-round residents because they are second homes or vacation rentals. 

Huge thank yous to everyone who signed our petition on Short Term Rentals (STRs).  In just one week we were able to collect nearly 500 signatures between our online and paper copy petitions. Your smart, heartfelt comments made a difference as the Board of Commissioners reached consensus to require STR operators to be real residents of the STR property at their August 20, 2018 hearing. We want to thank the Commissioners for being open to exploring different approaches to regulating STRs and considering the opinions of Hood River locals. 

Summary of STR code changes:

  • There is a robust residency requirement. In order to operate an STR, it must be the operator’s “domicile” and primary residence. 
  • Proof of residency requires of the following showing the STR as the operators primary residence  on their Federal or Oregon Income Tax Form plus one other item from this list
    • Oregon Driver’s License
    • Voter Registration
    • Hood River County Resident ID Card
  • Remove the cap on the number of STRs
  • Add criteria to “grandfather” certain short term rentals currently in operation, but not yet permitted, to be phased-out  in  seven years. The board is in favor of extending this grandfathering to STRs that meet one of these criteria:
    • Registered and paid Transient Room Tax to the County
    • Applied for a STR permit prior to August 20, 2018
    • Paid personal property tax for their home as an STR business
  • Prohibit STRs on resource lands (farm and forest zones) unless the property does NOT receive tax deferral. Properties in the Exclusive Farm Use and Forest zones may continue to operate Bed and Breakfast establishments.t
  • Restrict the maximum number of days an STR may operate (for example, 180 days)

 Check this out if you want more background on the issues with STRs in Hood River County.