Letter: Housing Crisis

It seems that at least once a month there is an OpEd or article written about the housing “crisis” at Tahoe. The authors range from elected officials, board members from the various nonprofits around Tahoe to homeowners.

Where are the numerous articles from local businesses sounding off about not having enough employees who can afford to live locally? I’m sure there are some, just not the bulk of these articles. Maybe it’s just that the businesses voice their concerns through these other platforms.

What I don’t understand is why this is a homeowner issue. What has changed? People have had second homes at Tahoe since at least the early 1900s. Tourists have always visited Tahoe. Houses have been available to rent for decades.

What did change was the aggressive marketing of Tahoe as a tourist destination, the opening of new businesses, and the construction for them, Heavenly Village, The Crossing, Bijou Center, Boatworks, etc.

If the majority of residential properties in Tahoe are either owned as second homes or occupied by wealthier people who don’t need local employment, why allow so many businesses to open and then complain they have no local labor?

Maybe when someone applies for a new business to open there should be a stipulation that they have already secured a labor force. Wherever that labor comes from is up to the business. Setting a limit on the types of businesses might help as well. How many dessert, souvenir, cafes, and niche food businesses does Tahoe need? Most are there for tourists.

When the entities decided to market Tahoe to the world as a destination, maybe they should’ve considered who would be coming and what their accommodations would be. The entities promoting Tahoe don’t have a problem cashing in, but to allow homeowners to rent their properties out to make money from these tourists, well that’s different. I don’t blame the neighborhoods for complaining about VHRs, but they need to realize who created the monster.

Lake Tahoe started out being for the wealthy when the Europeans started to pillage it. That hasn’t changed.

Entities have promoted Tahoe as an amusement park for tourists, and people have opened businesses to make money from these visitors. The housing issue is a business problem, not a residential owner problem.

- April Stephens
Douglas County-South Sunridge