To the editor:
This is in response to the letter asking Lincoln County commissioners to close down short-term rentals to protect the county from the spread of COVID-19.
It is good that it was a letter to the editor (meaning one person’s opinion) and not an actual news article that would be expected to adhere to the facts. The proposals and claims of this letter lack any factual information and are devoid of accurate data.
Quote: “Closing short term rentals will help stop the spread of COVID-19 and comply with the governor’s order for no gatherings over six people from no more than two households.”
At the recent Board of Commissioners meeting it was reported that the commissioners stated that not one single known case of Covid-19 in Lincoln County was attributed to a traveler. Yet, the author of this letter asserts that shutting down STRs will help stop the spread of Covid-19. How can it help when zero cases have been attributed to visitors staying in short-term rentals.
Fact: The largest outbreaks of Covid-19 in Lincoln County have been at local facilities such as Pacific Seafood earlier this summer. Not faulting them for it, just stating the facts.
Quote: “Because of the rampant spread of COVID-19 in our state and across the country, we need to stop renting these short-term rentals in unincorporated Lincoln County until the spread is controlled.”
What direct bearing does rampant spread across the state and country have specifically on unincorporated Lincoln County. Answer: None. As stated, the author is a member of the small movement known as 15Neighborhoods, a group which has made it their mission to shut down all short term rentals in unincorporated Lincoln County. If you look at the groups Facebook page you’ll find it was started by a disgruntled homeowner whose immediate neighbors rent their homes as vacation rentals. This group has a clear agenda.
I also find it ironic that the author‘s apparent alarm and concern about Covid-19 in Lincoln County is only focused on the unincorporated areas of the county where Covid-19 has been virtually non-existent throughout the pandemic, while the author seems fully content to let Covid-19 spread in more populous areas. How does it make sense to shut down vacation rentals that are single-family houses which by their very nature limit gathering sizes when those houses provide a perfect respite from the more populous city areas where Covid-19 is a legitimate concern? It doesn’t make sense at all if one follows the data.
Quote: “Since we cannot enforce the occupancy limits on our own, the only way to ensure compliance with the order is to shut down rentals until such time as the virus is contained — and that will be when there is a vaccine.”
My first question is this: Who is “we”? The author acts as if he (and others?) are some self-elected STR policing agency that hasn’t been able to control occupancy limits, insinuating that STRs are rampantly overflowing and over-occupancy. Which couldn’t be further from the truth.
The Lincoln County Sheriffs Office currently has responsibility for enforcing STR regulations in Lincoln County. They have yet to shut down an STR for over-occupancy because the owners and property managers of STRs largely stay on top of this. There is a good deal of self-policing that occurs already.
Security cameras outside properties, befriending neighbors and enlisting their support in notifying owners when guests are rowdy or possibly over-occupancy, occasional drive-by visits just to check on things … there are all normal for STR owners and property managers. I know because I’m an STR owner and I’m a guest contact for 18 STRs in Lincoln County. Are there occasional bad apples who rent? Yes. Do we deal with them promptly? Absolutely! But who gets to pick their neighbor’s anyway? None of us. I’ve had far worse experiences with an unneighborly neighbors at a previous residence than I’ve ever had with any of the guests that have stayed in one of the rental homes.
Finally, the author mentioned hotels and motels as not needing to shut down because they can better control their occupancy levels but STRs should be shut down until the end of 2020 because of the governor’s temporary freeze order which lasts only two weeks. I have several comments on this but the first is simply this. How does one extrapolate an ongoing STR shutdown from a two-week temporary freeze on specific gathering types and businesses? It’s an absolute grasp at thin air.
Furthermore, based on my reading of the governor’s “freeze” order, hotels and motels are exempted and not required to shut down or otherwise limit occupancy. The author lumps STRs into the same category as hotels/motels (lodgings for transient occupancies) but then throws out a completely illogical conclusion that STRs can’t be regulated and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to operate. Clearly he also hasn’t read the Governor’s freeze order since it specifically exempts hotels and motels from the freeze. It’s a red herring of an argument if I’ve ever heard one.
In conclusion, let’s stick to the facts. Let’s stick to the facts about Covid-19 and how we can help slow its spread and protect our families and communities. Let’s stick to the facts about STRs and the regulations and policies that are already in place (and largely working properly) to ensure that owners of homes in Lincoln County rent them in a responsible way. Let’s stick to the facts and recognize that another STR shutdown would hurt far more people than the few selfishly motivated private interests like those represented by the author of this article and 15Neighborhoods.
Fact #1: I own an STR in Lincoln County and I self-police my home to ensure my guests abide by state and local regulation.
Fact #2: I manage 17 other STRs in Lincoln County (16 of which are in unincorporated areas) and I ensure enforcement of those same standards on each of those rentals.
Fact #3: Covid-19 is not currently rampantly spreading in Lincoln County.
Fact #4: There is no data that links the shutdown of STRs in Lincoln County to slowing or stopping the spread of Covid-19.
Fact #5: The 18 STRs that I manage alone provide full-time work for at least 7 local Newport, Waldport, and Yachats residents and upwards of 15-20 workers during peak seasons. These full-time workers would be without income and resources to support themselves and their families if our STRs are arbitrarily shut down again. Imagine the number of families in our communities that will be affected if this non-sense of shut downs because of special agendas is allowed to move forward. More people will be hurt by a shutdown on STRs than any benefits gained.
Fact #6: The rapid increase in number of STRs is a relatively recent phenomenon so good policy is needed. Yet good policy can only be accomplished when all interests are fairly weighed and considered. Arbitrary shutdowns won’t help anything. Fact supported data should drive any discussion about policy change and implementation.
The reality is that the author of this article and this group who call themselves 15Neighborhoods, these proponents of shutting down STRs, are driving personal agendas because they don’t like a little extra noise from guests who stay at STRs in their neighborhoods. Yet they’re content if it’s contained to other neighborhoods in which they don’t live like within the cities of Lincoln County. So they want to take away the rights of other property owners in order to preserve their own pet agendas.
— Nate Beaudin, Oregon City/Newport