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Whitefish cracks down on illegal short-term rentals

Downtown Whitefish, MT.
Josh Burnham
/
Montana Public Radio
Downtown Whitefish, MT.

Whitefish is cracking down on illegal short-term rentals. City council members last week created a position dedicated to tracking down unregistered vacation rentals.

The city requires each rental to pay a registration fee and also restricts where they are allowed within the city.

City staff estimate there are about 330 illegal units. That’s nearly half of all vacation rentals within city limits.

Cities like Bozeman have also increased enforcement efforts to maintain housing stock for locals. The number of units on sites like AirBnB and VRBO have skyrocketed in many of Montana’s resort communities.

Whitefish’s enforcement position will be funded in part by registration fees for legal short-term rentals. City staff say it will take some time to post the job and hire.

Aaron graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism in 2015 after interning at Minnesota Public Radio. He landed his first reporting gig in Wrangell, Alaska where he enjoyed the remote Alaskan lifestyle and eventually moved back to the road system as the KBBI News Director in Homer, Alaska. He joined the MTPR team in 2019. Aaron now reports on all things in northwest Montana and statewide health care.
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