Sioux Falls is considering joining other cities in further regulating Airbnb and other short-term rentals with minimum parking-space requirements (one space per bedroom), maximum occupancy (no more than three people per bedroom) and notifications to neighbors of their commercial operations. The folks making money off such rentals (and slightly driving up housing costs for full-time residents) have powerful former legislator and city council member Christine Erickson pleading their case against government intervention in their lucrative market:
“We organized quite some time ago to talk about really our story,” Sioux Falls Short Term Rental Alliance member Christine Erickson said.
…“We are recommending folks to go see our parks system, go to the local coffee shop, go eat at these local places, go see our city, its really important to us that we’re also supporting our local community,” Erickson said.
Christine Erickson has been a short-term rental owner for more than a decade; she says her business is helping revitalize the All Saints neighborhood.
“We’re putting our funds back into those properties….that maybe were a little tired in the past,” Erickson said.
…“Some of the proposed regulation coming forward would essentially knock some of us out of the rental game for the short term,” Erickson said []Bridget Bennett, “Sioux Falls Short Term Rental Alliance Shares Concerns over Potential Ordinance,” KELO-TV, updated 2023.08.17].
The city’s proposed short-term rental ordinance updates get second reading at the Tuesday, August 22 City Council meeting.
Why even have zoning regulations if anyone can make a residence a commercial property. Read a funny Onion article about how shocked an AirBNB guest was to find the house they rented actually had REAL people living there with a cozy atmosphere and pictures on walls as opposed to the basic sanitized grey w no carpet.
Should be a rule that the owner actually gets their mail at the address, you know, residency requirements, not ‘Investor Owned’.
With Sturgis wrapping up, we should nod to the folks out west that live in their home and rent it out for a couple weeks a year, pioneering the model the right way. I think anything other than that is Commercial property.
Maybe they need AirBNB districts, or neighborhoods vote individually on allowing, like an HOA. With housing shortages, we need to have less House Hoarders. Long term rentals as well. Its not good for the overall economy.
Also, ‘revitalize’ is code for Gentrify.
“she says her business is helping revitalize the All Saints neighborhood.”
Mark B nails it! Airbnbs are commercial property, not residential property. Extended stay motels are commercial property, not residential property. Regular motels that rent rooms as apartments are commercial property, not residential property.
Greedy fee rakers (Airbnb hosts) tend to wreck, not enhance neighborhoods, and as a result, decrease property values in that neighborhood. This is why communities across this nation are clamping zoning restrictions on this commericial Airbnb property cancer.
Mark highlights the better model for short term rentals – one’s own, owner-lived in property. An even better model exchanges no money – it’s house swapping. Ten or more companies sponsor house swapping, and most are global.
Once again, the media does a story and leaves out an important factor. THIS IS NOT A CITY ORDINANCE AND DOES NOT EFFECT THOSE PROPERTIES WITHIN SIOUX FALLS CITY LIMITS. This is a joint ordinance change to match Minnehaha County’s ordinance change they already made within the joint jurisdiction area Sioux Falls shares with the county. The city is considering making changes to the ordinance within city boundaries, but that discussion is so tight lipped I have a feeling it will pop out of the woodwork in the middle of the night. I have been warning short-term rental owners that the city will probably follow suit of the county.
Why anyone lives in Sioux Falls remains a mystery.
Our Lady of the Arroyo and her man have gone to a thirty day minimum with our casita mostly because Santa Fe County passed a short-term rental ordinance but we had a five night minimum and that was still too much work.
Santa Fe remains a top travel and leisure destination as cannabis sales top $33 million in June, median home prices jump to $800,000 and more people leave the city for more rural parts of the county.
“Sioux Falls Short Term Rental Alliance” sounds like an astroturf organization, is the membership list available? Maybe it is a group of one.
According to WalletHub South Dakota has some of the cheapest housing in the US but little will change that faster than an epidemic of short-term rentals.
Probably not coincidental to Mrs. Noem’s political grandstanding is the flight of talent from the state and calls by its entire congressional delegation to ease immigration rules. Noem’s christianic religionists are apparently void of any compassion and choose to blame Democrats for inflation as labor shortages drive wage increases. It’s hypocritheocracy on meth.
Professor Ernie Goss is sounding a warning for Trump states where investors have mostly given up.
It is definitely a commercial venture. We have wondered where most condos and houses are purchased for short term rental is the sole reason to purchase. It’s a mess. Too many people per unit without enough parking spaces. I actually think that if a home is purchased for rental purposes, it should be rezoned so neighbors have a say and/or limit the amount of time per year it can be rented.
larry, people live in sioux falls because it’s a beautiful city with decent infrastructure and a lot of clean and well-kept indoor and outdoor space for kids to have fun. I loathe most of south dakota, but i love sioux falls.
As for short-term rentals… the house across the street from me was sold a few years ago when the old-timers needed to move into a place without stairs. It was purchased by some LLC and is now a short-term rental. Initially i expected headaches, but have had none. The place is empty 75% of the time, so it’s dead quiet more often than not. I understand plenty of other folks have different experiences and stories, but as for my family, we are indifferent to it.
This will all come crashing down in the next 24-36 months anyway, though, as all these new “investors” start to lose money because most travelers don’t want to spend $400 a night to crash somewhere, surprise surprise. Then the housing market will track back to reality. Bank on it.
Hey, what’s not to like about six (seven? eight?) month winters, rampant racism, chilling effects on civil rights, an extremist legislature, living in a chemical toilet, sacrifice zone, perpetual welfare state and permanent disaster area?
yes, larry, the sky is falling and everything is terrible and those terrors are unique to this locale. Mm hmm.
WalletHub just rated New Mexico the worst state in which to live so there is that.
Scott Is correct
This is becoming a problem even in the small towns. We have hunters and anglers stay in short term rentals with their vehicles and boats parked on the city streets and hoggin up a great deal of space. These rentals are spread-out all-over town in residential districts because there was no ordinance against them. We have a housing shortage for all income levels, but the landlords make so much money from their temporary rentals that they’re laughing all the way to the bank. Some of us older people have been approached by house grabbers and offered a pittance for our homes. But if we do sell, there are no apartments to move into, so the alternative is to move out of town. In the long run, the community is losing its older workforce, church members, volunteers, those who donate to community groups, and an audience to all the civic activities that occur. Now, it’s just a place for others to hunt and fish.
At our 30-day $1200 rental Airbnb adds $100 for local taxes, a $127 booking fee to our guests’ bill and charges us $40. Although we made more money anything less than a five night minimum is a crap ton of work and Airbnb takes a higher percentage.
Both the City of Santa Fe and the county hope to clamp down on absentee owners who hire property managers driving housing costs into the ozone. The number of commuters who drive from Albuquerque to work in state jobs is staggering because rent in Santa Fe is astronomical. No doubt Sioux Falls is suffering a similar circumstance.
Mark, Here are my experiences on both sides of the business. When I travel to Quito, I rent from an architect from London and his Ecuadoran wife who built a condo building, and reserved one condo for themselves. They rent it out when they are not in the country (most of the time). When our schedules conflict, I rent form the guy down the street – an Argentinian who lives in the apartment building he owns and rents out a portion of as short-term rentals and a portion as traditional ones. He serves mostly NGO workers on s short-term tour in country. But that’s the big city (2MM) and also the “zoning” such as it is, is kind of eclectic. In the same neighborhood are the US ambassador’s residence (gated, guarded, and hidden behind walls and trees), a Jazz club/pizza joint, a bar, a couple local stores (tiendas) a city water treatment facility and NUMEROUS singke family homes of various types. It’s a wonderful experience to escape from the “American way” of segregating everyone and everything. It feels like a place that’s ALIVE.
Meanwhile, back here in the USA, I have purchased a rundown old house, that pretty much anyone else would have torn down and built something new on the lot. I’ve put a lot of effort into bringing it into the modern world. I typically on occupy it myself for 3-4 months a year. So, it becomes a short-term rental in my absence. Would you have it sit empty 8-9 months of the year? How would that “boost the economy”?
larry – SD has cheap housing. SD has low paying jobs. Here’s an example I use when people query me about my experience living in “twice as expensive” California for 15 years. I also got paid twice as much for the same work. So, simple math, after earning twice as much and paying twice as much how much did I have left in my pocket at the end of the week? The same amount? Less? Half as much? Go figure it out and let us know.