The battle over short-term rentals is heating up in Montana. 4 locals share which side they're on and why.

• The number of short-term rentals in Bozeman, Montana, nearly doubled between 2020 and 2023.
• Residents are locked in a debate over how to regulate them, exposing how nuanced the issue is.

It's summertime in Bozeman, Montana, and like clockwork the dreamy mountain town is bracing for a crush of tourists.

From fly-fishing and rock-climbing enthusiasts to "Yellowstone" fans and their cattle-rancher fantasies, Bozeman has only grown more popular during the pandemic as an Instagram-ready gateway to the Mountain West.

Last year, the local airport welcomed 2.2 million passengers, shattering previous records, and Time Magazine in April named Bozeman one of the "World's Greatest Places."

But beneath the surface, a fierce debate on the future of tourism rages among locals.

"If you look 10 years in the future, and we carry on with business as usual," said local resident Benjamin Finegan. "There will be no more Bozeman."

Finegan and a group known as Bozeman Tenants United introduced a proposal this year to ban whole-home rentals, like those on Airbnb and Vrbo, with an exception for renting out individual rooms.

For those in favor of a ban, it's simple. The number of short-term rentals in town nearly doubled during the pandemic, according to analytics site AirDNA. At the same time, home prices rose by 40% and the median rent nearly doubled. Finegan said banning short-term rentals is "one of the most impactful things in our control" to create more affordable housing for locals.

"I'd like to have neighbors again," said Bozeman resident Angas Reid, who said his downtown building has become a hotspot for Airbnbs and Vrbos.

Other people in town are split. Bozeman hosts like Michael Rutkowksi argue the town needs the valuable economic activity short-term rentals and the tourists who rent them provide.

"The city is in a catch-22," Rutkowski told Insider. "They can't really function without the short-term rentals."

"Short-term rentals have been part of the fabric of popular vacation destinations like Bozeman for decades, and our goal is to work with communities on balanced rules that support local tourism economies, provide certainty and clarity for hosts, and address community concerns wherever they arise," an Airbnb spokesperson told Insider. "To that end, we are working closely with City of Bozeman Community Development Department to help support their compliance efforts."

How Bozeman moves forward could set a standard for the new, post-pandemic era of short-term rentals. From Aspen to Atlanta, U.S. cities and towns are watching each other for how to regulate this category of housing.

Insider spoke to four Bozeman-area residents who shared their personal experiences with the short-term rental boom, how it's impacted their homes and livelihoods, and what they see as a path forward.

A short-term rental host argues for stricter rule enforcement

Short-term rental host Michael Rutkowksi has lived in Bozeman since 2005. He purchased a triplex in 2015 for $450,000 and began renting out the other two units in 2016 on Airbnb, Vrbo, and other platforms. The two identical three-bedroom rentals now bring in around $8,000 a month, Rutkowski said.

That money goes toward the high cost of living, property insurance, taxes, and costs for a store Rutkowski is building in nearby Paradise Valley. A RentCafe study said the cost of living in Bozeman is 20% higher than the national average.

He dismissed banning short-term rentals because of rowdy or unclean guests, calling those arguments a "red herring" often drawn up against hosts. In the seven years he's been hosting, he said there was only one guest whose bad behavior rose to a level of calling authorities.

The big picture for Rutkowski is that abolishing short-term rentals won't stop the massive flow of out-of-state investors pouring money into local real estate.

"People always come to Montana for something: gold, cattle, and now it's real estate," he told Insider.

Rutkowski argues that if he wasn't renting the units out, someone else would buy them and they would sit empty as second or third homes for wealthy out-of-towners.

More urgently, Rutkowski said the town should enforce the current rules on the books before creating new ones, like a whole-home short-term-rental ban.

Currently, all properties must register their short-term-rental license with sites like Airbnb and Vrbo. But as a current license holder, Rutkowski said he's never been asked to show his credentials and believes there are likely unlicensed hosts illegally renting out properties.

Their apartment building has become a party house

Jason Ridgway, 45, and Angas Reid, 36, both live in a downtown Bozeman apartment building they said has been overrun with short-term rentals, turning what should be a quiet home into a rowdy hotel.

They said it's a constant battle against rude guests and pools of vomit in the elevators, trash piled sky-high outside the building, and revelers partying at all hours of the night.

"People just check their civic duty at the door," Ridgway told Insider. "To them, it's just a rental and someone else will clean up their mess."

Reid agrees, adding, "It's difficult to call this place home when there's just so much going on."

Ridgway, who serves as the building's board president, estimates at least five of the 16 units are being rented out on sites like Airbnb and Vrbo. His unit shares a wall with one of them. Dealing with guests and the owner have caused headaches.

Ridgway said he's had to call authorities more than once because of rowdy guests. When he calls his neighbor to intervene, he said he gets the feeling "she doesn't care."

Neither Reid nor Ridgway support a full-out ban of short-term rentals, but both hope the town takes action.

One solution Reid supports is a Palm Springs model, where owners are restricted in how many days they can rent out their properties, effectively requiring them to live in town full-time.

"I'd like to have real neighbors, people I can interact with" Reid said.

Ridgway understands that some owners use their rentals to support the expensive cost of living in Bozeman. He supports a cap on the number of units someone can own. Those who work in the town deserve a chance to live there, he said.

"Affordability is directly tied to the lack of supply," Ridgway said. "These are the people that keep the town turning."

She used to commute to Bozeman because she can't afford to live there. Her daughter's on the same path.

Wynona Larsen, 47, used to commute to work at Bozeman dry cleaner Persnickety. She lives 30 minutes away in Livingston, Montana, because she can't afford to live in Bozeman.

She said many people who work in Bozeman have to make a similar commute.

"Half the people that live in Livingston drive to Bozeman to work at the Walmart," Larsen told Insider.

Larsen currently lives in a mobile home where she pays a lot fee of $400 a month.

In her mind, Airbnb is not the only cause of the housing crunch, but an important one. "Airbnbs take housing away from people who live locally," she said.

Larsen said she would support a ban on whole-home short-term rentals. The argument that these rentals brings in critical tourism dollars doesn't hold water for her.

"All the jobs that support tourism pay less than McDonald's," Larsen said. According to job listing platform Indeed, a McDonald's restaurant manager in Montana makes an average of $22.07 an hour.

Her daughter works as a housekeeper at a local hotel near Bozeman and earns $20 an hour. Currently, she lives with her parents and is getting married in October. She worries that she'll never be able to move out.

"She's thinking that she's not going to be able to have kids because she can't afford to buy a house," Larsen said.