City of Boise Wants More Control Over Air BnBs

Think about your neighborhood.  Is there a house or condo in it that you know exists solely to be a short-term rental like an Air BnB or VRBO?

Earlier this week, I ran a really informal poll on my Facebook page about what Boise DOESN'T need more of.  No surprise, growth continues to be an issue that really strikes a chord with a lot of our listeners and we could tell by the answers you gave like transplants, people and traffic. A few of you pointed out the out-of-staters who buy property in the Treasure Valley and never actually move into it.  Instead, they fix it up and farm it out as a short-term rental like an Air BnB, taking away an opportunity for a local buyer to own the home as their long term residence.

According to CBS 2, that's part of the feedback they've received from residents along with concerns over this behavior driving up home prices and bringing unwanted noise, parking problems and increased traffic into their neighborhoods.

The City of Boise was receptive to that feedback and proposed amendments to better regulate short-term rentals within residential areas. If the amendments move forward, they would limit short-term rental operators to one unit renal unit per taxable parcel, require an application to be filed for the city for approval and the property to be completely up to date with the current development code.

The most interesting part of the amendments? The fact that it would require the owner to actually live on the property in either the main house, accessory dwelling unit or other side of a duplex.  This would eliminate people from buying property to run what's basically a commercial business in a residential area.

If you're already operating a short-term rental, the approval of these amendments would not impact you.  It would only apply to owners who try to start up their rental property after the code goes into effect. The process to get the change approved take 4-6 months and will include a period of time for public input and public hearings in front of Planning and Zoning and City Council.