🎯 STRisker: Bulletin - Snowmass, CO
Snowmass Shakes Up the STR Equation to Help Locals
A Deep Dive into Your Area’s STR Updates — Helping You Navigate the Ever-Changing Rental Landscape.
Snowmass Shakes Up the STR Equation to Help Locals
Snowmass is staring down a serious housing mismatch. Nearly 1,700 active short-term rental (STR) permits but 290 locals on a waitlist for homes. That eye-popping ratio has town leaders rethinking the balance between tourism dollars and housing stability for the local workforce.
At a council meeting last week, officials began floating ideas to help shift the pendulum back toward long-term rentals. The goal? Reclaim some of the rentals lost to Airbnb-style stays since the pandemic.
“To me, the goals should be to get back some of those long-term rentals that we had before COVID,” said Councilmember Susan Marolt.
Right now, Snowmass has minimal restrictions on STRs. Property owners only need a $300 permit and $85 business license annually. Most of the town’s 1,698 permits fall into four buckets: resort hotels, managed condos, managed individual units, and private homes or duplexes with the latter two making up 569 permits and becoming the main focus for policy change.
The big debate? Whether to incentivize owners to switch to long-term tenants or to disincentivize short-term renting. As Town Manager Clint Kinney put it,
“Incentivizing is going to be us writing a check. Disincentive is going to be a more economically viable way for the town.”
👉👉Among the disincentives on the table:
- Raising the lodging tax (currently at 2.4%) — a move that would need voter approval this November.
- Imposing a vacancy tax for STR units sitting empty for long stretches.
- Adding new STR fees to make the short-term game less appealing.
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Meanwhile, Snowmass Housing Director Betsy Crum pointed to a recent strategy in Eagle County that paid STR owners to rent long-term instead. Though the program ended after a few years due to cost, it proved that shifting behavior is possible when the math works for landlords.
Council wasn’t ready to lock anything in but agreed to dig deeper. Staff will now look into how other mountain towns in the valley structure their lodging taxes and present further recommendations.
With a housing crisis still looming large, Snowmass is clearly warming up to reshaping its STR strategy. Whether through fees or carrots, the town’s looking to make long-term living just a little more doable for the people who keep it running.
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