Welcome to the Coalition for Seattle Short Term Rentals! The City of Seattle is currently drafting legislation that would regulate our City’s short-term rental market. These regulations would severely impact owners and managers of short-term rentals, those whose provide home maintenance services to the rentals (housecleaning, home repair, etc…), and local neighborhood businesses that benefit. This legislation would severely limit the ongoing operation of short-term rentals. Short-term rentals provide an invaluable service to travelers visiting Seattle. As an operator of short term rentals, you support several different types of employment and put money into local neighborhood economies. You provide a service for a wide array of visitors that aren’t met by traditional lodging options. You have hosted medical professionals receiving training, families visiting a sick relative in the hospital, and travelers who want to experience Seattle’s great neighborhoods. The City has not done their research. They haven’t heard the serious impacts this could have on the Seattle residents who operate short-term rentals. This poorly conceived idea is not an effective solution for the affordable housing crisis that Seattle currently faces. Council needs to spend their time on actual solutions, instead of pursuing a knee-jerk idea that could have such serious ripple effects throughout Seattle.
