Protestors occupy city hall’s corner before the final planning commission hearing regarding Hood River’s short-term rental policy on April 4, 2016. The language, which was passed onto city council and eventually became Ordinance 2026, has been challenged twice in federal court.
Protestors occupy city hall’s corner before the final planning commission hearing regarding Hood River’s short-term rental policy on April 4, 2016. The language, which was passed onto city council and eventually became Ordinance 2026, has been challenged twice in federal court.
HOOD RIVER — The city’s short-term rental policy is constitutional, three judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided last Monday, July 20.
After an unfavorable ruling by U.S District Judge Adrienne Nelson last April, 10 out-of-state homeowners appealed to the 9th Circuit and presented oral arguments three weeks ago, as previously reported byColumbia Gorge News.
The plaintiffs contended that Hood River’s ordinance, passed in 2016 and amended in 2024, unfairly discriminates against them by requiring that short-term rentals either be occupied by the title holder as a primary residence or by a local tenant under a 12-month lease at minimum.
The judges disagreed. Hood River’s policy applies equally to the plaintiffs and to local residents living in a second home, they found, negating any “Dormant Commerce Clause” violations. The constitutional provision prohibits state or local laws favoring in-state interests over out-of-state interests.
The loss of “a preferred, more profitable method of operating” is not a “substantial” or “significant” burden on interstate commerce, the judges wrote in their five-page opinion. Finding a long-term tenant who can accommodate short-term rentals might prove difficult, but they also pointed out that Christopher Michel, attorney for the plaintiffs, didn’t provide any evidence of such difficulty.
Further, Hood River modeled it’s amended ordinance on the policy disputed in Rosenblatt v. City of Santa Monica, another dormant-commerce-clause case that the 9th Circuit similarly found constitutional in 2019. The aim was to preserve neighborhood quality and ensure year-round housing availability for local workers.
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