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ALPENA – A new ordinance is being considered by the City of Alpena Municipal Council that would place a temporary freeze on short-term rentals.

The ordinance had its first reading at last night’s Alpena Municipal Council meeting. A recent study indicated the City of Alpena needs additional rental units and short-term rentals and Airbnb units.

The 2024 Bowen National Research Housing Study indicated there is a minimum housing gap in Alpena. There were 163 rental units and 438 for-sale units at the time of the study. Additionally, the study finds that the current limited housing supply puts the city at risk of losing residents to other communities.

Executive Director of Target Alpena Development Corp. Lenny Avery, said the proposed ordinance , if passed, may relieve pressure on the local housing market and make it easier for people to rent long term or buy a home more easily.

“I think the goal of the city is to make sure our community is healthy when it comes to housing stock and having a vibrant housing market,” Avery said. “Currently, our community in Alpena has a .4 housing availability, a healthy market has four to six percent, we are not even to one percent.”

The ordinance would not apply to short-term rentals that were identified as such by the property owner or local agent through the City of Alpena’s Rental Registration Program as of March 1. Any property owners who want to register with the city as a short-term rental will have to wait at least 12 months.

“We want people who have their own property to be able to do what they want, within the rules,” Avery said. “However, we also want to make sure that we stay flexible to allow new residents who may be interested in living in Alpena, to have available housing options. We do not want individuals with multiple houses flooding the market with short-term rentals, we want people to be able to come to Alpena, and be a part of our community long term.”

Any violations to the ordinance would constitute a misdemeanor, and result in a fine of up to $500 per infraction plus court costs, and/or imprisonment for a period to exceed 90 days.

During a previous municipal council meeting on Feb 2, Avery presented the board with information pertaining to the number of commuters in and out of Alpena for employment. This new ordinance could influence some of those people to make Alpena their new home.

“We are always looking for ways to bring those people to Alpena, those 6,000 commuters that are coming in and out of Alpena County are living outside the area,” Avery explained. “We would love for those individuals to live where they work, and we need availability to accomplish that.”

Airbnbs can be problematic for the long-term residents who call that neighborhood home.

“When you have these vrbos and Airbnbs in communities it affects everyone around there,” Avery said. “Two people might rent a lake house for example, then they invite some friends over and before you know it a once quiet neighborhood has 20 people partying out by the driveway.”

Without rules and regulations property values can also be affected by short-term rentals. There are numerous short-term rentals owned by individuals from different states, without regulations in place to oversee these properties.

“It affects property values, neighborhoods, it affects noise, it’s compounding issues because if you do not have any rules or guidelines that are set, some of these individuals that come in are not local,” Avery explained. “We have found that some of these people that own air bnb’s are from out of state.”

The lack of housing is not the only concern, many of the homes in the City of Alpena are fairly old homes in need of improvement.

“Many of the homes within the City of Alpena were built in the 1970’s, most of those houses need to be rehabilitated, energy modifications (like new appliances), new roofs, and accessibility improvements because many residents are older,” Avery added.

Monday’s meeting was the first reading of the proposed ordinance, a vote on the matter will come at a later date.