Adjusting rules for local short-term rentals and a study of their economic impacts — but no hard cap on rentals property owners can have — are being recommended by an Assembly-appointed task force that concluded five months of work Thursday.
The Assembly last month adjusted sales tax rules for short-term rentals to shift the responsibility to operators such as Airbnb rather than property owners, with Deputy City Manager Robert Barr noting “it is rare that the work of a task force results in completed legislation prior to its conclusion.”
Other recommendations approved Thursday include clarifying that a single dwelling is one short-term rental unit even if multiple rooms there are rented separately and a “grandfathering” period of two to three years for new regulations so property owners have time to adjust.
The 11-member Short-Term Rental Task Force approved by the Assembly in April of 2024 began meeting in January of this year. Ongoing concerns due to Juneau’s housing shortage hit a peak in August of 2022 when thousands of multiday visitors arrived for an Ironman Alaska triathlon, and subsequent issues include risks to existing housing from glacier outburst floods and hundreds of new residents expected when a Coast Guard icebreaker is homeported here in a few years.
The task force comprised of three Assembly members and eight public members was originally scheduled to meet twice a month until May 1.
“We met twice as many times as we initially anticipated,” Wade Bryson, an Assembly member who chaired the task force, said as the group ended its meeting Thursday. “This was definitely complicated stuff.”
The eight members participating in the meeting were divided over some of the impactful proposals, including one by public member Erik Pedersen to limit property owners to three short-term rentals if Juneau’s rental housing vacancy rate is below 4%. A memo presented by Barr to the task force shows the vacancy rate was between 3.1% and 3.4% from 2011 to 2016, then spiked between 4.2% and 6% from 2017 to 2021, and ranged between 3.6% and 4% since.
The proposal failed by a 2-6 vote with Dan Coleman — another public member — among those disagreeing due to a lack of specific data about its impacts.
“I think that if we offer a recommendation without really knowing the fiscal impacts to the municipality that would be a disservice,” he said. “It’s up to the Assembly to determine if they want to limit their income.”
The task force, as its final action before sending its report to the Assembly, unanimously approved the recommendation for an economic impact study of local short-term rentals. Such a study would build on a 55-page “starter kit” published by the city in December to provide an overview for the task force’s work. That report found 2.71% of Juneau’s homes were used for short-term rentals — a middling number compared to other Alaska municipalities — and that short-term rentals could in theory generate up to three times more revenue for property owners than long-term monthly rentals based on average rates.
The Assembly passed an annual registration requirement for short-term rental operators in 2023 after lengthy consideration. The changes approved by the Assembly last month state “marketplace facilitators” such as Airbnb (and other non-housing platforms such as Uber) must collect and remit sales tax on behalf of their sellers.
Also, according to a notice published by the City and Borough of Juneau, facilitators “must take steps to ensure that each Juneau listing on their platform is registered with CBJ, in compliance with recent STR regulations that allow all Juneau’s accommodation providers to operate on the same playing field.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
