At the 89th U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting, local government officials from across the nation voted to recognize six U.S. jurisdictions for implementing a successful short-term rental (STR) strategy with proven results. All six communities featured at the event employ the GovOS Short-Term Rental Solution as a critical component in their approach.
Attendees of the conference discussed the ongoing challenges associated with the rapidly expanding STR industry and acknowledged that while many communities continue to grapple with the impacts of a steady increase in STRs, others have found success implementing software solutions for compliance with local regulations and tax requirements.
The annual conference, which took place virtually in August, brought together more than 1,400 mayors from across the nation to discuss a number of key issues in communities, such as sustainability, social justice, community development and housing, and more. During the annual meeting, mayors are given the opportunity to discuss and vote on important policy resolutions that, if approved, are considered representative of the group’s collective viewpoint. Policies adopted during these meetings are afterwards distributed to the U.S. President and Congress.
Among the resolutions entered at this year’s conference was Resolution 44, titled Software Solutions for Compliance of Local Laws and Taxes for Vacation Rentals. Voted on and passed unanimously, this resolution identified model cities who have successfully deployed STR compliance programs and outlined the key features that comprise these cities’ programs.
The resolution first recognized Albuquerque, NM as a model city for its effective use of software to support and maintain its STR initiatives. Other local governments recognized for utilizing a similarly successful model were:
-
- Corpus Christi, TX
- Dallas, TX
- Fort Collins, CO
- Hawaii County, HI
- Irving, TX
According to the resolution, cities like Albuquerque achieve a high compliance rate with the support of software that enables:
-
- Identification of STR properties
- Compliance monitoring
- Communication with STR operators
- Registration and licensing of properties
- Tax collection
- Community complaint management
- A dedicated STR complaint hotline
For cities struggling with how best to manage STRs and navigate the kinds of challenges associated with vacation rentals, the committee proposed looking to these model cities to see how they’ve achieved their success. As outlined in the resolution, the most effective solutions are typically sustained by:
-
- Creating and maintaining an advertisement listing and property database
- Collecting property data (including owner and property manager contact information)
- Defining what it means to be compliant
- Providing online services for property owner/manager, such as a portal that allows users to register/renew an STR license and/or make tax payments
- Communicating with operators via notification tools
- Utilizing a system to catalogue neighborhood nuisance concerns
At GovOS, we help communities implement and advance STR programs incorporating these very elements. Our STR solution empowers cities struggling to address communication issues with STR owners/managers and supports proper identification of properties to help your jurisdiction discover who is operating an STR and the steps required to bring them into compliance.
We are honored to be the chosen provider of the cities named in Resolution 44 and invite any communities facing similar obstacles to reach out to our team with questions.
With today’s kickoff of the US Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington, DC, we’re looking forward to learning more about the topics covered at this session, and to what extent STRs will continue to be a part of the conversation going forward.
For more information about our STR compliance solution, please visit govos.com/products/short-term-rental/.
