Reach out to your elected officials and let them know that we need to prioritize housing over tourism and investor profits. In fact, relatively few tourists and investors benefit from our current ordinances compared to the total population - the harm of these ordinances greatly outweighs the benefits to a few.

A stable housing supply is essential to the sustainability of our City and County. Policies that accommodate tourism trends and incentivize investors ignore long-term planning for a stable supply of homes for locals to rent long-term or buy in established neighborhoods.

Our current ordinances incentivize prospective buyers of second homes by allowing them to have a profitable business when they are not visiting Santa Fe. Second home buyers should not be competing with locals who need permanent housing.

Commercial use should not be the primary use of an existing residence without a zoning change. The primary use of a dwelling on a residentially-zoned lot should be restricted to residential use.

Trust me, our elected officials are definitely hearing from the special interest investors who lobby them to protect their investments at the expense of local residents who live, work or retire here.

If you live in the City of Santa Fe, you are represented by two City Councilors in one of four districts.

To identify your City Councilors, follow this link and enter your address in the upper right corner.

To find the contact information for the Mayor and your two Councilors, follow this link.

If you live in either the City or the County of Santa Fe, you are represented by one County Commissioner in one of five districts.

To identify your County Commissioner, follow this link.

To find the contact information for your County Commissioner, follow this link and click on their photo.

Tell our elected officials that they have a responsibility to protect our housing supply and preserve the character of our existing residential neighborhoods. They have a duty to prioritize housing over the special interests of speculative investors.

Tourists and non-resident investors do not vote. They are not citizens in our community. Residents vote and elected officials have a duty to protect our collective interests by restricting short-term rentals to owner-occupied properties in a limited number and density.

There are some easy and significant actions that each concerned citizen can take to make a difference.

• Become informed on the issues

• Talk with your friends and neighbors

• Write a Letter to the Editor. Follow these links to get started:

• The Santa Fe New Mexican

• The Albuquerque Journal

• Most importantly, show up and speak at a public hearing

• When it comes down to a vote of the City Councilors or the County Commissioners, the last voices they hear are often the most influential. You can bet that the investors who have been buying up our houses and the real estate agents who profit from these transactions will show up in force to convince the officials that converting our homes to motels is a good policy.

Talking Points

• Owner-occupied STRs allow locals to supplement their income by “hosting” visitors in their homes or guest houses. Owner-occupied STRs maintain a primary “residential use”. It is a home-based business.

• Every non-owner occupied house or condo that is being used as a lodging business is one less home that is available for a resident to rent or buy.

• Home prices and rents are inflated by investors who are buying residential properties to be used primarily for commercial use. Homebuyers cannot successfully compete with investors who are buying a lucrative income-producing property.

• Transient lodging in non-owner occupied homes does not belong in residential neighborhoods. Neighbors want neighbors. Community is built on familiarity and a sense of safety.

• All current STR permits should “sunset” on a specific date and new applications must meet the standards of a revised ordinance.

• Existing STRs should not be “grandfathered”. Investors can pivot to a new investment strategy of furnished month-to-month rentals or long-term rentals of six months or more. Or… just sell the house, move into the house or let it sit empty.

• GRT and Lodgers Tax is collected for all lodging bookings. STRs do not produce new revenue. They just take a bite out of the total lodging revenue as hotels are not at full capacity.

• Housekeepers employed by non-owner occupied STRs can just as easily be employed by conventional motels, hotels and resorts that have been developed on commercially-zoned properties.

• If we need more motels, hotels and resorts, then build them and they will employ all the hard-working folks who currently work in the vacation rental industry.