Letter: Is Measure T Really Too Extreme?

I am surprised that some people call Measure T “too extreme,” when the measure a) still allows fulltime residents to rent out their houses for 30 days per year, b) promotes the development and expansion of VHRs in areas properly zoned as commercial or part of the Tourist Core.

Do you know what is really “too extreme”?

• Local businesses struggling to fill open positions because their employees can’t find long-term housing in Tahoe.

• Respectful reliable renters getting kicked out of their long-term rentals because the landlord (or management company) believed it was more lucrative for the owner to turn it into a VHR and have it sit empty most days.

• Housing prices in Tahoe skyrocketing above California’s already high prices for houses because people bought houses outside of their means with the intention of subsidizing the price on other people, artificially inflating the cost of all housing. VHRs aren’t just owned by “mom and pop trying to get by”, many are owned by out-of-town companies who view VHRs purely as financial investments without actually caring about our community.

• The majority of fulltime residents in South Lake Tahoe not truly being able to afford to live where they work; being forced to spend more than 30% of their income on housing, even for a derelict room in a house full of other renters; millennials, younger generations, and grandparents giving up hopes of one day ever owning a modest house here; quality community-minded people having to move out of town because there is no longer enough long-term housing options in South Lake Tahoe to find a place to live.

• The hundreds of thousands of dollars the National Association of Realtors alone has poured into the pro-VHR campaign to out-yell and intimidate South Lake Tahoe fulltime residents. Follow the money-- why is the National Realtor Association behind a small-town election? Is it because they disproportionately profit from holding our residential neighborhoods hostage? The real estate sector’s yellow journalism is meant to fear-monger and manipulate voters, infringing on the freedom of speech of less-endowed voices.

• VHRs not regulated as Tourist Accommodation Units (TAUs) while official hotel and motel rooms are held accountable to zoning and fair business practices.

• The City Council not even putting a temporary moratorium on VHRs while they figure out how to regulate them, and the citizens of the South Lake Tahoe community constantly having to be the ones to push the City to adopt measures wrangling VHRs instead of the City being proactive, and protecting the interest of its citizens.

Measure T isn’t about kicking out the tourists our economy revolves around. Measure T is about reigning in VHRs so that our community and businesses can function and thrive.

Measure T isn’t the complete answer to affordable housing, but it is part of the answer. Instead of focusing on navigating the murky waters of building affordable housing (and sacrificing the open space we all love), let’s first use what we already have efficiently.

The estimated $3 million lost in Transient Occupancy Taxes (TOTs) through restricting current VHRs can: 1) force the City Council to make smarter budgets and stop wasteful spending; 2) easily be made up for in taxes on medical and recreational marijuana (Just look at our neighbors in Washoe County who collected $56 million in marijuana taxes in the first year)!

Whether or not residents here get conned into voting down Measure T, I hope the fact that Measure T even got on the ballot and the awareness brought by the Yes on T crowd is a huge wake-up call for our new City Council to do something for locals for once. We are so enslaved by the tourist dollar that we have forgotten how to spend taxes wisely, and that we actually need housing for the many people (residents) who offer services to the tourists.

- John Dunn
South Lake Tahoe