According to Juneau’s short-term rental program, there are just under 400 registered short-term rentals in Juneau — 391 to be exact. But Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said that number is hard to pin down.
“There probably hasn’t ever been a city program where we’ve had 100% compliance rate, so it is likely that the number is higher,” he said.
The Assembly put the program in place one year ago hoping it would ensure that people with short-term rentals paid sales taxes. It doesn’t cost anything to register a rental. And it would provide the city with more data on the actual size of the market in Juneau. The plan was to then use that data to shape potential restrictions or regulations as Juneau continues to grapple with a housing shortage.
But a year has gone by, and so far nothing has been put in place or even considered. That’s too long, according to Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs.
“I’ve been disappointed that it has taken so long to sort of get moving on this piece. For me, I’m motivated to see some common sense regulations be put into place,” she said.
Before the program began last year, the city didn’t have a clear way to know how many short-term rentals there actually were and how much of the market they were taking away from long-term renters.
According to a recent study, Juneau ranked fifth in the state for the highest average rental costs for a two-bedroom, at $1,561 a month. That’s a 5% increase from the year before.
Previous analyses of the market have given the city mixed results. In 2022 the Assembly hired an independent firm to do a point-in-time study of the market. It found that Juneau had nearly 600 active and intermittently active short-term rentals. A Juneau Economic Development Council study in 2022 found there were between 300 and 600 short-term rentals.
But now with the data from the city’s program, Hughes-Skandijs said the Assembly doesn’t need to keep stalling. It has what it needs to begin making decisions on what should be done about the industry.
“We know it’s not the only thing that’s affecting our housing. It’s not like this magic bullet, but, it’s a piece of it,” she said. “We have to give consideration to the person who can’t find a place to live because of a short-term rental.”
Juneau wouldn’t be the first community in Alaska to put regulations into place if the Assembly decides to do so. Communities around the state — and country — have already taken robust measures to curb the increase in their markets.
In Sitka, short-term rental owners are required to live on the property for half of the year. And Wasilla only offers 75 short-term rental permits per year. Vacation destinations in states like Colorado have also put into place similar laws.
Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon doesn’t think Juneau is ready yet to impose anything similar.
“I don’t think we are at a position at this time with the information we have to decide if we’re going to do regulations or not,” she said. “I think this task force will help us figure out if we do indeed need to start with regulations right away.”
She said that the Assembly needs more input from the community and stakeholders to understand the gravity of the decisions they’d be making.
That’s why she is leading the charge in forming a task force to tackle if — and how — rentals should be regulated.
Once the Assembly approves the task force, its members will start hosting public meetings to review regulatory options, and what may or may not work in Juneau. The goal of the task force is to advise the city manager and Assembly about potential regulations while also considering the impacts on different sectors of the community.
“I’m confident that this group will work well with the short-term rental people in town and those people that are having issues with the short-term rental and try and find some good solutions that we can work with from the Assembly on,” Weldon said. “Whether or not we’re going to make regulations, and if we do make regulations, what’s going to work best for the community.”
Weldon handpicked the members. They include people like current short-term rental operators, a planning commission member and a former Assembly member.
The task force will meet for roughly the next six months and is scheduled to complete their findings and offer recommendations to the Assembly by March of next year.
