Politicians and businesses are bumping heads over a new bill that could see short-term rentals shut down immediately in the case of a statewide emergency.
In a newly proposed piece of legislation, state Rep. Rosemary Brown, R-189, Pike/Monroe counties, has sought to make changes to the classification of short-term rental units, like those marketed through websites like Airbnb and HomeAway, in order to close off a potential source of problems that have become especially apparent during the pandemic in the Poconos.
“My legislation would create a short-term rental definition as a residence that is not a primary residence,” Brown said in a statement. “It would also halt short-term rentals immediately upon a disaster declaration in the future so we wouldn’t have to wait for a governor to implement a special order to protect our residents and resources.”
According to Brown, the stay-at-home orders put in place in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey originally amounted to little more than strong recommendations that lacked specificity, particularly in the request for residents to stay at their primary residences.
“I didn’t want to see people jumping from state to state as that wasn’t helping anyone with public health efforts,” Brown said.
'These are not normal times’
On March 25, Brown joined several other lawmakers in sending a letter to governors Tom Wolf, Andrew Cuomo and Phil Murphy requesting that they collaborate and address the issue that residents from New York and New Jersey were allegedly using short-term rentals in Pennsylvania as “getaways” to avoid COVID-19 hotspots.
While the commonwealth and the Poconos routinely welcome tourism, Brown stated, “these are not normal times,” and that increased traffic during the pandemic introduced a “possibility of infections overwhelming communities (everything from health systems to grocery stores) unprepared for a normally smaller population.”
On April 1, Wolf announced that short-term rental units had been reclassified as “non-life-sustaining” businesses, and as such, they were to be shut down for the time being.
While that action did put a stop to short-term rentals in the commonwealth, it was a situation-specific move that begged the question, what happens during the next pandemic or disaster declaration?
“Even though the temporary order to halt short-term rentals is now in place, we still are having issues with people renting illegally,” Brown said. “Short-term rentals are often thought to be 30 days or less because they are lumped in with hotels for tax reasons. However, there is actually no definition in Pennsylvania statute. This is causing interpretations of the definition of rentals to be varied and abused.”
Madden argues against blanket approach
As it stands, Brown’s bill is still in draft form, making its way through the House of Representatives. However, it has already attracted some attention from fellow lawmakers and one of the biggest players in the short-term rental game.
State Rep. Maureen Madden, D-115, Stroudsburg, who was part of the group that sent the initial letter to Wolf regarding the issue, has said that while she agrees that there is a problem that needs to be addressed, Brown’s legislation is not the way to do it – at least not in its current form.
“Based on what I’ve seen thus far, I’m not supportive of it,” Madden said. “I don’t think we can, beyond this pandemic, be regulating when and how people come to the Poconos.”
Instead of automatic closures, Madden would like to see a strategy “based on the metrics and the disaster at the time,” and not a blanket approach, she said.
That sentiment is shared by short-term rental giant Airbnb, according to public policy and communications worker Liz DeBold Fusco. Situations like weather-related emergencies would obviously present some issues with automatic shutdowns, and finding accommodations for emergency workers is a necessity that cannot always be handled by hotels or motels, she said.
"Airbnb has launched a program through which we are providing doctors, nurses and other frontline workers housing in order to self-isolate or to travel to different hospitals to support the fight against the virus,” DeBold Fusco said. “Because they’re in daily contact with the virus, I think we can all agree they need and deserve a place to go to keep themselves and their families safe."
DeBold Fusco noted that Airbnb also provided housing for emergency workers during last year’s wildfires in California, even after a state of emergency was declared. Automatic closures could have crippled that effort.
"We have sought to strike the necessary balance by taking action to reinforce public health guidance across our community, while ensuring front-line responders can still access the housing available via short-term rentals,“ she said.
At the moment, Brown’s bill is still in draft form, allowing for any number of changes before it is brought forward.
“This legislation is a starting point and I know I will be amending it as we move forward to be the most effective, accurate, useful and enforceable law for future situations ... although I hope we never need it,” Brown said.
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Pa. lawmakers work to redefine short-term rentals - Bucks County Courier Times
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