At the July 21 meeting of the Pagosa Springs Area Tourism Board, after we’d heard from real estate agents Jon Johnson and Lauri Heraty, and former vacation rental owner Kristi Smith, we had a chance to hear from Mona Cayard, who represents the Pagosa Chamber of Commerce on the Tourism Board, and owner of the High Country Lodge, three miles northeast of downtown Pagosa Springs.
We had quoted Ms. Cayard previously here in the Daily Post, testifying to the Archuelta Board of County Commissioners back in February, 2021.
“For many of the lodgers here… we’re noticing that [short-term rentals] have created a problem, because our employees are unable to find places to live in the community. And many of the lodgers are actually taking rooms out of operation to provide places for their employees to stay, because either, one, they can’t afford [the rent] or, two, they are getting kicked out of their current places because the owners want to convert them to short-term rentals.
“I have a couple of employees I’m having to house, because of that…
“So one of the big things I’ve noticed — and it was presented by the Chamber at their last annual meeting — is the housing crisis in this community. Houses are in high demand… A working person cannot afford a house. An employee who’s making $15-$20 an hour cannot afford a house; they can’t even afford a one-bedroom apartment in this community. Right now, a one-bedroom apartment is running about $850 a month, plus utilities. That’s pretty hefty for a lot of people.”
(Rental rates seem to have only increased, since Ms. Cayard made this statement in February.)
“So we’re seeing three or four people climbing into trailers, into one-bedroom apartments, just to find a place to live. And employees are working two or three jobs so they can afford to live here. That is a big problem…
“I don’t have all the details, but I went to a website called AirDNA, and I got numbers from 2017 through 2020… In 2017, they said the county had 625 active vacation rentals. In the last quarter of 2020, the community had 1,119.”
Ms. Cayard here is referring to the 81147 zip code. You can visit AirDNA here. According to the map on that website, the vast majority of STRs are located in the Pagosa Lakes area, with many more in the downtown area. The rentals tracked by AirDNA hit a high point in the first quarter of 2021, with 1,234 units listed. That number dropped slightly in the second quarter, to 1,163.
Ms. Cayard continued:
“So the biggest need we have as lodgers — and I think the other lodgers will attest — is more affordable housing, available to our workforce. Because if we don’t have places for people to live, we’re not going to be able to attract employees to come to this community… Even people who are buying businesses aren’t able to find a place to live. So this is a huge issue.”
Neither the Town Council nor the Board of County Commissioners have attempted to cap the number of vacation rentals within the 81147 zip code, although their both have legal authority to do exactly that. We have no numbers to indicate exactly what impact the vacation rental industry has had on the supply of employee housing options, but we know that both long-term-rental rates and average home prices have skyrocketed since 2012.
At the July 21 Tourism Board meeting, Ms. Cayard expanded on her concerns, as the Board discussed the idea of using Lodgers Tax revenues to address the housing shortage.
“I want to clear up one serious misconception going on. Everybody assumes the business community is not involved. I disagree. I represent the Chamber; I represent the business community. And they are very much interested in this problem. They may not be able to come to every [government meeting]… but they do communicate through me, through [Chamber Director] Mary Jo Coulehan, and people like that…
“Number two. We are a community, and whether or not I agree with the short-term rentals and how they’re set up — they’re here, because they’re been given a structure to operate. So, there are problems being caused by that, in the community. There are problems in other areas. Because the reality is, this community does not have the infrastructure to support the amount of growth we’re seeing.
“I don’t care, you can point the blame wherever you want. We just don’t have it.
“We’ve got to be able to support it, because if we’re going to keep on growing — whether we add more short-term rentals, whether we add more businesses, whether we add more residential housing — we’re going to need more police officers; we need better roads, better communications, better transportation.
“We’re working on broadband now; that’s a ‘work in progress.’ Let’s just leave it at that.” She laughed.
“Same thing with the congestion, transportation. Those are all issues we have. The whole community does need to get together on it, and say, ‘Hey, there is a problem here.’
“I don’t want to hear ‘The Blame Game’. I want to hear some solutions. What can we do to get this resolved?
“Is the Tourism Board supposed to do it? No. But we can make recommendations, and we can help out. And that’s what I want to see happening here. I don’t want to see anybody pointing fingers. It doesn’t solve anything…
“I spent 30 years in ‘corporate’, and that’s what I’m going to ask. ‘What is your problem? What is your solution? What are your strengths, your weaknesses, your opportunities? Let’s look at that.”
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.