ALPENA, Mich. — The City of Alpena approved a temporary moratorium on new short-term housing rentals at the city council’s Thursday meeting.
The moratorium comes as the city grapples with what Alpena City Manager Rachel Smolinski referred to as a “housing crisis.”
A 2024 housing study the city participated in found that the city’s rental vacancy rate was at 0.4%, far below what the city said is an optimal range of 4%-6%. Additionally, for-sale units had only a 0.5% availability rate, below an ideal 2%-3%.
The study also found that the lack of available options may push people to find housing outside of Alpena County.
“A lot of people that are coming here to work or to move here have trouble finding housing,” said Smolinski. “Housing is not affordable. Even rentals have really skyrocketed. So we’re just trying to make housing a little bit more affordable, and available quite honestly, for people that live and work here.”
Smolinski said that creating some sort of a cap on short-term rentals could be one idea the subcommittee examines; however, they will also look at ways to not impact the city’s tourism industry, with Alpena being a popular summer destination.
“We know that we have short-term rentals that are getting more and more popular around here,” Smolinski said. “Because Alpena is a wonderful place to visit, and we want people to come here, but at the same time, we want to give ourselves a chance to really dive into the issue and figure out what’s right for Alpena to regulate and to manage those short-term rentals.”
The city has created a short-term rental subcommittee to examine potential ways to address short-term rentals in Alpena.
The moratorium lasts for one year, or until the city decides on what to do.
It does not impact the 56 short-term rentals currently registered with the city.