Hailey, you’ve made impressive progress on a tough story. Diving right into regulation like this is ambitious. I applaud you for taking it on. I think that once we simplified the focus, you took off. Now, for the writing. You make a series of spelling errors and you get names wrong. The fact that you are new to Austin will not excuse this in readers’ eyes — and it shouldn’t. Look up place names. Check your spelling. I have gone through and made editing suggestions. You will see that every time you started a quote like this: “Asked if the sun is coming up, Mary Smith said, “Yes, the sun is coming up.” I have struck through the beginning and started on the quote. Your writing will be more energetic and rigorous with the attribution (said, according to), at the end of the quote (or sentence or paragraph if you’re paraphrasing). Please copy and paste this into another template and call it OBRIEN STL Story Draft 3.  Work through the changes and edits, check all spelling and proper names and, if you like, I’ll take another look before you turn this in for a grade. Now, turn your attention to the multimedia. 

Newlyweds Ryan and Pam Hess bought their first condo in Terry Town: this is not spelled correctly, an affluent Austin, TX neighborhood, in March of this year. They immediately looked into listing their home on Airbnb, which is what?  Don’t assume the reader knows. as a way to supplement their income.

Ryan owns Ready to Run, a running store in West Austin, and Pam, a coordinator for Homepolish, which is what?, has a side business as a dog walker and and house sitter. Listing their condo on Airbnb seemed like an easy and logical way to supplement their income. decision.

Pam, 26, who described the couple as “rule followers,” received multiple e-mails within the first few days of listing their propery. But before Pam could accept any requests, she was directed to a page on the Airbnb site that listed the various laws and taxes imposed by the city of Austin on homeowners wanting to list their property on the platform. It was there that she first came across the term Short Term Lease License, otherwise known as the STL.

“So I realized that we had some homework to do,” Pam said. “We even reached out to some of our friends to see if people are actually policing this law [if it] really mattered. I reached out to the city of Austin. I even went to the city to see what requirements they had. They said, oh well we require a Short Term Lease License,” License.”

Austin has developed a reputation as a fast growing, tech friendly city. With budding young start-ups and ventrue – spelling captial – spelling money pouring into the city daily, one would assume the new sharing economy would seem to be flourishing. However, two home- sharing platforms, Airbnb and Homeaway, which is headquartered here in Ausin, would might disagree, as might the homeowners who, hoping to get around the new regulations, are leasing their properties illegally.

Home sharing is one of the most successful and accessible sects of the sharing economy, says who? How do you back this up?  but many Austinites are listing their property illegally. Since 2012, the City Council has passed a series of regulations requiring citizens who want to own and operate Short Term Rentals, or STRs, to acquire Short Term Lease Licenses, or STLs. To add another layer of regulation, there are two types of STLs: Type 1, for owner-occupied single-family properties listed as primary residences, and Type 2, for single-family dwellings or duplexes that are not owner-occupied. Type 2 STLs have, so far, come under the most scrutiny from whom?

Pam’s condo is a part of a multifamily unit which at the time meant she needed a Typ 3 STL – confusing: Isn’t it still part of a multi-family unit?. There are two other types of STLs. Type 1 is for owner occupied single family properties that are listed as primary residences and Type 2, which have faced the most scrutiny, are for single family dwellings or duplexes that are not owner occupied.

The process of obtaining any of the licenses is anything but straightforward, says who?

The process of getting an STL varies. First, you need to a certificate of occupancy, or a Short Term Rental Inspection, by a third party inspector. The cost?  which costs Between $200-$250. Then, you need to fill out an application and pay the application fee. After  the recent City Council vote, that fee which after the recent vote was increased from $235 to $393. There is also a 3%  percent cap for Type 2 STLs per census tract. I don’t understand the cap. It’s a cap on what? 

Pam and Ryan’s condo did not have a certificate of occupancy on file so they went back to the city hoping that what Pam? describes as the “very thorough $300 inspection” they were required to have before purchasing the condo would suffice. They were told it would not and that they needed to pay a third- party STR inspector. After some research, they hired someone to come to their place for $250. The condo that had passed inspection two months before, when they were buying it, an inspection for them the to purchase two months before prior failed to pass the third party STR inspection.

When asked about the failed inspection Ryan acknowledged that the condo is part of an older building complex. but also said,

“We had to get an inspection to buy it. We had to get an inspection to get home owners insurance. All ,these things and it’s passed all the codes for that. So if it’s doable to live in and have it and everything is up to code, it shouldn’t be any more strenuous” to pass the STR inspection, Pam said.

Ben Cross, 36 who works as an analyst for the state state what? Which department? Be specific, has a Type 1 STL to rent out a dethatched garage apartment on his property. The whole process took him four weeks. For him the entire process took about 4 weeks.

“Before we bought it, this house had been remodeled in 2006,” he said. “So,  it had a Certificate of Occupancy. I know that is something some people struggle with. I think since it had been constructed recently I just had to call a separate office just to verify it, verify what? but that was a very simple process for me”

A recent vote by the city council placed a ban on Type 2 STRs with the intention of doing away with them altogether by 2022. This is a very sudden transition from what has come before. What is the connection between Cross’s situation and this? Work on a different transition.

One council member, Kathie Tovo, who voted for these regulations believes, “Phasing out Type 2, or commercial, short term rentals will increase housing opportunities for students and other Austinites who want to purchase or rent those structures,” said City Councilwoman Kathie Tovo, who voted recently, along with the majority of the Council,  to place a ban on Type 2 STRs, with the intention of doing away with them by 2022. “A it will remove an inappropriate commercial use from our neighborhoods.”

Pete Gilcrease, 36, who has been operating Short Term Rentals in Austin since 2010, two years before the first short term ordinance passed establishing STLs, strongly disagrees. He has been operating Short Term Rentals since 2010. What is Short Term Rentals? A company? What does it do? 

Citing a 2012 audit and an Educational Impact Statement from 2013, he said that he believes Council Member Tovo’s assessment of STRs is incorrect. Leasing out STRs is his primary source of income.

and he believes that, “Short-term rentals are not a commercial use of property any more than long-term rentals are,” he said.

City Councilwoman Ellen Troxclair agrees. She opposed the ban on Type 2 STRs. Is this correct?

Michael Seale, the chief of staff for Ellen Troxclair, one of the two city council members who voted against the regulations said, “She voted against the new regulations because she felt that the new regulations would not address the specific issues that some of our neighbors were concerned about,” said Michael Seale, Troxclair’s chief of staff.

Paraphrase this. It’s too long a quote: There were a small group of “bad operators” who were violating the rules already in place, he said, explaining Troxclair’s position. He added that Troxclair is “very concerned about the message this Council is sending to innovators and entrepreneurs. He said that she is looking forward to a decision in a lawsuit, filed by the city of Austin, challenging the ordinance . Simply, creating more rules would not address those particular issues. Those issues were more a matter of enforcing the rules that were already on the books. She was also concerned that passing some of the regulations would violate personal property rights which are protected under the Texas Constitution. And we are looking forward to the state’s opinion on the recent lawsuit.” Now, are you sure the City of Austin is suing over an ordinance passed by its own Council?

The lawsuit Seale is referring was filed against the cityThe lawsuit says the ordinanceclaiming “that Ordinance 20160223-A.1 (the “STR Ordinance”) violates the Texas Constitution by infringing upon the rights of private property owners and tenants. and tenants to operate and enjoy individual residences as short-term rental properties.”

Seale continued that. “Councilmember Troxclair is very concerned about the message this Council is sending to innovators and entrepreneurs, whether it be in transportation, home-sharing, or other industries. It is already difficult enough to start and operate a business, and the City Council should be encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, not stifling it.”

Tovo, not surprisingly, is unconvinced.

When asked how she believes these regulations affect Austin’s reputation as a tech-friendly city and people’s ability to participate in the sharing economy Kathie Tovo responded, “I don’t regard commercial short term rentals as examples of the “sharing economy,” she said. “These are investor-owned properties operated for maximum profit, often at the expense of Austin residents.”

For  Pam and Ryan Hess, the expense of not being able to participate legally in Airbnb is a frustration.

“I mean I wish I didn’t have a conscience, of course,” Pam said. said, “But, unfortunately, I do.”