How The Success Of AirBNB & VRBO Affects Your Snow Removal

Since 2009 the number of vacation rentals managed by their owners (think AirBnB, VRBO and HomeAway) has quadrupled in the Truckee area. Many homeowners realize that they can make more money renting their homes as short-term vacation rentals than they could if they rented on a long-term basis.

The success of the short-term rental market means that a lot of rental houses that were previously available to local workforce employees are no longer available. This then becomes a classic case of supply and demand in the local housing market: less long-term housing supply means that prices for these scarce units increase for local workforce employees.

This affects your Tahoe Donner snow removal in two ways. First, the cost of living continues to climb for the local workforce. Employers, like Elements, are forced to pay employees a wage that allows them to live in an area with an increasing cost of living. We then have to pass along our increased labor costs to you, our client, in order to retain good employees.

Second, many local workforce employees have relocated to the Reno area because they can’t find or afford housing in the Truckee area. Employees who commute to work from Reno are subject to the highway road conditions, which can close at a moment’s notice due to inclement weather and/or vehicle accidents. When roads close, like they often did during the ‘16/17 season, our snow removal employees can’t get to work, thus delaying your snow removal experience.

So, what’s the solution? Among other things Elements Mountain Company must pay a competitive wage that allows its employees to afford local housing options and must look into solutions to address the local housing shortage and climbing cost of living, like developing its own workforce housing.

Resources: The Vexing Problem Of Short Term Rentals – Moonshine Ink