What’s next in the effort to address Laramie’s housing crisis? Both city government and residents are taking action to expand housing availability and protect those most at risk of losing shelter.
Its a beautiful thing that public information. I can find out at least who owns the homes and then drive by to see how stellar the landlords keep them, or not. While it is fruitless to "discuss" things with Brett as he misses many points due to greed and frankly loathing of his tenets, there is an aspect of "housing" that was not addressed in Mr. Victor's thorough piece. VRBO. or AirBnB.
I have watched a house that was a rental to a very nice but frail elderly lady for about two years. The rental has been converted to a VRBO and the stable tenet is gone. I would contend these types of actions by landlords and single family houses are contributing to the rise in rental costs as well as reducing the labor pool to fill jobs in the community.
If I were on City Council I would propose that VRBO and AIBnBs would be banned for single family homes owned by an LLC, Corporation or that is not the primary residence of the home owner. In other words an individual can AirBnB a room in the owner's house but cannot AirBnB an additional single family residence.
The owner of the VRBO showed some real affinity for Brett Glass tactics by jamming political signs on the front lawn. I wonder if one can shame VRBO owners by pointing out to renters that they are supporting landlords that may be against their politics?
As usual, Mr. Victor demonstrates in this posting that he is not a "reporter" at all - and does not subscribe to journalistic ethics - but is rather simply an opinionated blogger.
Jeff's posting starts by presupposing that Laramie has a "housing crisis," when in fact this is not the case. There are surpluses in several categories of housing (particularly rentals) and minor shortages in a few such as "starter homes" (a phenomenon that's nationwide, not limited to Laramie). He then goes on to demonize landlords, even though the vast majority of Laramie landlords are ethical, maintain quality properties, and work overtime to provide a necessary product under difficult circumstances. (Laramie has, among other things, high turnover, large numbers of inexperienced and destructive tenants, a shortage of maintenance personnel and quality contractors, and no "big box" stores at which to buy supplies.) He supports illegalities such as Laramie Main Street's operation of downtown residential lofts (it's a 501(c)(3), which under the tax code is not allowed to engage in businesses normally carried on for profit) and the city's "Rental Housing Code" (which - besides bloating the city bureaucracy, hiking rents, hindering repairs, and threatening to CREATE a shortage of rentals when we currently have a surplus - has been ruled to be unconstitutionally vague and violate the due process rights of both landlords AND tenants).
Jeff then writes in support of the ambitions of the city's power-hungry bureaucrats - including annexation of areas of the county surrounding Laramie, which county residents emphatically DO NOT WANT. (Most of them live in the county specifically because they want to avoid the impingement of the city bureaucracy, and only consider annexation when they want to sell their land and leave, hoping to increase the selling price via the availability of city utilities.)
Jeff then touts a nascent renters' organization which failed to gain traction earlier this year, and whose Web site contains a raving manifesto advocating extreme measures such as rent control (even though the aforementioned surplus of rentals has already kept rents in check for years and has caused many owners to lose money). The site features a demeaning caricature of a demonic "evil landlord" multiple times on the page.
In short, Jeff is on a crusade whose true purpose is self-promotion (he is claiming to be expert in investigative journalism when in fact his "investigations" are one-sided and sensationalistic) rather than do good for our community. Hopefully, there will be pushback from those in the community who want to see our community prosper and for landlord/tenant relationships to be a win/win proposition. The way to solve problems is not to spread hate. Attacks motivated by spite and malice, such as the ones in Jeff's posting above, do nothing to help anyone - least of all those seeking housing in Laramie.
Its a beautiful thing that public information. I can find out at least who owns the homes and then drive by to see how stellar the landlords keep them, or not. While it is fruitless to "discuss" things with Brett as he misses many points due to greed and frankly loathing of his tenets, there is an aspect of "housing" that was not addressed in Mr. Victor's thorough piece. VRBO. or AirBnB.
I have watched a house that was a rental to a very nice but frail elderly lady for about two years. The rental has been converted to a VRBO and the stable tenet is gone. I would contend these types of actions by landlords and single family houses are contributing to the rise in rental costs as well as reducing the labor pool to fill jobs in the community.
If I were on City Council I would propose that VRBO and AIBnBs would be banned for single family homes owned by an LLC, Corporation or that is not the primary residence of the home owner. In other words an individual can AirBnB a room in the owner's house but cannot AirBnB an additional single family residence.
The owner of the VRBO showed some real affinity for Brett Glass tactics by jamming political signs on the front lawn. I wonder if one can shame VRBO owners by pointing out to renters that they are supporting landlords that may be against their politics?
As usual, Mr. Victor demonstrates in this posting that he is not a "reporter" at all - and does not subscribe to journalistic ethics - but is rather simply an opinionated blogger.
Jeff's posting starts by presupposing that Laramie has a "housing crisis," when in fact this is not the case. There are surpluses in several categories of housing (particularly rentals) and minor shortages in a few such as "starter homes" (a phenomenon that's nationwide, not limited to Laramie). He then goes on to demonize landlords, even though the vast majority of Laramie landlords are ethical, maintain quality properties, and work overtime to provide a necessary product under difficult circumstances. (Laramie has, among other things, high turnover, large numbers of inexperienced and destructive tenants, a shortage of maintenance personnel and quality contractors, and no "big box" stores at which to buy supplies.) He supports illegalities such as Laramie Main Street's operation of downtown residential lofts (it's a 501(c)(3), which under the tax code is not allowed to engage in businesses normally carried on for profit) and the city's "Rental Housing Code" (which - besides bloating the city bureaucracy, hiking rents, hindering repairs, and threatening to CREATE a shortage of rentals when we currently have a surplus - has been ruled to be unconstitutionally vague and violate the due process rights of both landlords AND tenants).
Jeff then writes in support of the ambitions of the city's power-hungry bureaucrats - including annexation of areas of the county surrounding Laramie, which county residents emphatically DO NOT WANT. (Most of them live in the county specifically because they want to avoid the impingement of the city bureaucracy, and only consider annexation when they want to sell their land and leave, hoping to increase the selling price via the availability of city utilities.)
Jeff then touts a nascent renters' organization which failed to gain traction earlier this year, and whose Web site contains a raving manifesto advocating extreme measures such as rent control (even though the aforementioned surplus of rentals has already kept rents in check for years and has caused many owners to lose money). The site features a demeaning caricature of a demonic "evil landlord" multiple times on the page.
In short, Jeff is on a crusade whose true purpose is self-promotion (he is claiming to be expert in investigative journalism when in fact his "investigations" are one-sided and sensationalistic) rather than do good for our community. Hopefully, there will be pushback from those in the community who want to see our community prosper and for landlord/tenant relationships to be a win/win proposition. The way to solve problems is not to spread hate. Attacks motivated by spite and malice, such as the ones in Jeff's posting above, do nothing to help anyone - least of all those seeking housing in Laramie.