Last week over a dozen people clad in yellow tee shirts marched around the entrance to city hall before filing into the council chambers and waiting in line with other members of the public to speak about the housing crisis in Whitefish and share personal stories related to the shortage of affordable housing.

Their goal that evening was to implore the council to approve the hiring of a short-term rental code enforcement officer, a request that was submitted to the Whitefish City Council by the city. Currently, according to the city, Whitefish is home to 374 registered short-term rentals and upwards of 300 illegal ones.

Most of the speakers were from “Housing For ___”, a housing advocacy group that hopes to effect change by letting their voices be heard. Many were born and raised in Whitefish and now, as adults, are finding it impossible to continue to live in their hometown due to the cost of housing.

Local business owner Ed Docter attended the council meeting online to voice his support for hiring a short-term rental code enforcement officer. He also expressed his gratitude for the council and for the housing advocates.

“I’m really stoked at this public comment. I think we’re getting somewhere,” Docter said. “I think we got a call to action.”  

Kalispell resident Ron Gerson kicked off the communication from the public.

“The obstacle appears to be the implementation of (short-term rental) rules to stem the tide of illegal short-term rentals. Not enforcing the rules merely exacerbates your problem,” Gerson said. “It is greed and short-sighted self interest which drives the flouting of the rules.”

Bailey McCarvel, a First Nations person was born and raised in Whitefish and currently lives in Kalispell. She explained how the “limited and egregiously expensive” options for housing have affected her life.

“I’m being forced to live even further outside of the place I have called home for my entire life,” McCarvel said.

Most of the speakers included a three-part request. They asked the council to enforce the existing rules around short-term rentals, hire staff to enforce those rules and educate the public as to what those rules are.

Whitefish resident Ian Fleming reiterated those requests and added that councilors were speaking on the campaign trail about laws the city enacted in the 1980s regarding short-term rentals, but that is not enough. 

“Forward-thinking is great, but we have to follow through,” Fleming said. “So we can have teachers, so we can have firemen, so we can have families living in our neighborhoods.”

Another citizen asked the council to prioritize residents over out-of-state second homeowners.

Of the 16 people who spoke in favor of the short-term rental regulation enforcement, only one, a short-term rental owner, was against it.

 Local business owner and member of the Whitefish Community Housing Committee Rhonda Fitzgerald said that many of the illegal short-term rentals in Whitefish used to be affordable units and with code enforcement, the hope is they drop back into the affordable category.

“You have authorized this enforcement officer for a number of years so it isn’t for lack of understanding how important it is,” Fitzgerald said. “But I think what people are saying is the community is at the breaking point.”

Smith added that it would take some time to hire this position, but the city would soon begin the process.

“We don't have a job description written but we will go through that process,” Smith said of the short-term rental code enforcement officer.  

The position will be full-time and include resort tax enforcement as well. 

Smith said she met with a company that has software that seeks out short-term rentals. They recognized 705 short-term rentals within Whitefish city limits, although they did extend the boundaries a few hundred yards.

“It's necessary for the public to understand that it’s partially your responsibility to report these things to us so we know where (they) are,” Councilor Steve Qunell said. “It’s a complaint-driven process.”

After discussion, the council voted unanimously to authorize the hiring of a code enforcement officer to address short-term rentals operating illegally in city limits.

THE ONE PUBLIC hearing on the council’s meeting agenda was an ordinance amending the city’s business licensing rules to reflect the new business registration program.

This change is in response to State Bill 262 which prohibits cities, including Whitefish, from requiring additional licensing when the state is the original issuer of the license. The bill changed the city’s ability to license short-term rentals.

Whitefish City Manager Dana Smith said the purpose of the new business registration program is to promote public safety and help assure compliance with other regulations and ordinances, things that were already happening with the current business licensing program. 

Registration involves collecting emergency contact information and zoning information, data the city uses to enforce resort tax requirements and short-term rentals. 

“It's very important for the public to know the state has really changed laws during this past session that have made it more difficult for us to enforce the rules that we’ve already had in place,” Smith said.

Besides the program’s name change, other changes include a requirement that contractors show proof of general liability insurance of at least $300,000 per occurrence to protect Whitefish residents and revocation of licenses, now registrations, was removed.

“The only things that were licensed by the state already were the things that we lost the ability to license with our city business licensing program,” Councilor Andy Feury said. “What we’re doing here is bringing everything all under one label of registration. City business licensing goes away. Really nothing changes.”

There was no public comment on this item and the council voted unanimously to amend the ordinance regarding business registration.