1. United States
2. Ore.
3. Letter

Ease the housing crisis. Crack down on short term rentals! We are constantly told how many housing units we are short of demand yet 1,000s of houses in our communities sit empty waiting for bookings on Air B&B and other short term rental sites. We cannot ignore the role these homes play in our inventory issues. On my own block there is a lovely home in my residential neighborhood that sits empty the majority of the time as a vacation rental. A family should be living in that home. They should be my neighbors not strangers coming in and out sporadically. I don’t disagree with the ability for folks to own investment priorities but they should have to rent them on a long term basis. Be a landlord. Give a family a home not just line their pockets with the money of tourists who don’t invest in our community beyond a weekend. Any housing legislation that ignores the role of these rentals is negligent in addressing a true issue.