South Lake Tahoe renter-homeowner matching website launched

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Tahoe Home Connection (TaHoCo) is a community-based organization working to generate new rentals in South Lake Tahoe by working with second home owners. They have launched a new website to help local workers easily find housing on the South Shore.

It is estimated that 58 percent of homes in South Lake Tahoe are owned by second homeowners and 78 percent of these sit vacant for much of the year. Many of the second homeowners rent out their homes on both long-term and short-term basis, or leave for their own personal use.

Thirty-one percent of local employees commute to the South Shore for work and about 40 percent of those commuters of those surveyed say they would prefer to live in the South Shore. Five percent of locale use a motel as their primary residence. This includes a number of families with children.

TaHoCo reaches out to second homeowners to encourage them to rent their home to a local seasonally or long-term, when the home is not in use. The organization is a fund of the El Dorado Community Foundation and is looking to expand its programming by offering renter training classes and other tools to help improve matches between renters and second homeowners.

Thanks to grants from American Century Championship, the City of South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County, TaHoCo has launched the first phase of its website matching tool, making it much easier for homeowners and locals to find each other. Potential renters can contact homeowners on the site through a secure e-mail system that protects both the renter and the homeowner’s privacy. The new website is at http://www.tahoehomeconnection.com.

Homeowners who want to rent their home using a property manager can request property management services through the website. They can also self-manage the property through the website. Property managers are welcome to add their listings to the site, and inquiries will go directly to the property manager. Tahoe Home Connection is a one-stop-shop for renters looking for housing in the South Shore, where both the renters and the homeowners know that their inquiries get a personal touch, rather than simply being automatically posted by a computer program.

Tahoe Home Connection has also recently partnered with some outstanding non-profits in the community - Tahoe Green Jobs, Tahoe Magic, and the South Tahoe Family Resource Center on our “Housing Heroes” program. The program offers ways for homeowners to help local employees who may face additional housing challenges due to loss of employment from the pandemic. Visit https://www.tahoehomeconnection.com for more information.