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Concerns from a ‘long term renter’

After reading the Jan. 19 article on further easing of restrictions to Saranac Lake’s proposed STR law (“Changes made, more to come for Saranac Lake STR law,” Adirondack Daily Enterprise), I’m beginning to realize this issue, at least in the eyes of the board, has little to do with housing.

Concession after concession (from allowing the proposed cap on new STRs to be changed at any time for seemingly any reason, removing the cap on how many STRs one person can own, relaxing the mandate that an owner live locally) reveals that this process is about regulating (and appeasing) STR owners as opposed to ameliorating the ongoing housing crisis in this community, where countless new hires to the area struggle to find housing for months, sometimes years, before giving up.

I know that STR regulations will not immediately result in more houses on the market or more long term rental units available locally, but I at least believed these causes were part of the town’s mission in passing an STR law. Though I support the thesis that we should ensure that the beneficiaries of STR income are local people, it’s telling that there’s no mention of the “housing issue” until the final paragraph of the Jan. 19 article, because the conversations at these meetings (at least from what I can tell reading the article) seem to be driven largely by aggrieved STR owners who don’t want to give an inch.

As somewhat of a new full-time resident in Saranac Lake, it’s also concerning to hear things like the mayor saying he wants to “avoid treating LTRs and STRs differently.” First of all, the “LTR” term is an equivocation. Long-term rentals are fundamentally different from STRs. I have dozens of friends living in SL and working locally who are “long term renters” who live in “long term rentals.” I would like to call these people what they are: locals, and what their residences are: homes.

Just as Saranac Lake needs more housing stock for first time home-buyers, it also needs more year-round rental units to support the next generation of this community. Often when I see “LTRs” discussed in hearings or in quotes in the paper or on popular local Facebook groups, it’s often to malign renters, such as when an Lake Placid STR owner in December told the Enterprise, “We lost a building in 2015 due to a long-term tenant.” That article goes on to say the cause of the fire was the use of an off-brand laptop charger, which I’m sure a short term renter would never use …

Though I do think a ratio rule like the one in Lake Placid’s STR law is a good idea, I admit I don’t know what all the solutions are. All I know is that the more I read about STRs and housing here in Saranac Lake, I begin to doubt any of these discussions will lead to what my family and so many others need: Places we can call home.

When questions of “Who is considered a local?” are discussed in the paper, I begin to ask the question of myself–I’m a transplant who works full time in the village, I’m a “long-term renter,” I’m someone who doesn’t know where I will be living when my lease ends in a few months. Am I a local? I’m not sure. If I am, I wonder: for how much longer?

— — —

Tyler Barton is a resident of Saranac Lake.

Sources

SL law: https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2023/01/changes-made-more-to-come-for-saranac-lake-str-law/

LP law: https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2022/12/lake-placid-extends-str-moratorium/

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