Mount Hood Residents Are Done Being Ignored: Short-Term Rental Update

Mount Hood's Short-Term Rental Problem Has Been Ignored for Years. That Might Finally Be Changing.

The plan for the April 9th Clackamas County Commission meeting was to have a structured discussion about short-term rentals in the Mount Hood area. What actually happened was a room full of people who had waited long enough — and weren't waiting anymore.

A rep from the Hoodland CPO described a recent town hall on short-term rentals as so packed, so emotionally charged, and so full of public testimony that the planned conversation basically got run over. Commission Chair Roberts said it was one of the best-attended events he'd been to in a year.

That's not nothing.

This Has Been a Problem for a Long Time

Short-term rentals up on the mountain have been a genuine quality-of-life issue for years. Neighbors have moved away — not relocated, moved away — because of vacation rental activity that disrupted their neighborhoods. Party houses, noise, strangers cycling in and out of residential streets.

And here's the part that's genuinely frustrating: there was a draft STR code. A real one, with teeth. It went through the process and came out the other side watered down to the point of being mostly symbolic. Code enforcement? Residents at the town hall said it barely functions.

What people are asking for isn't radical. Rules. A transparent process for complaints. Actual monitoring. Enforcement that means something. These are baseline requests.

What Commissioners Are Saying Now

The tone out of the April 9th meeting was different. Commissioner Savis hinted that the original, stronger draft code might be coming back out of the drawer. That's significant — if true, it means the version with real regulatory teeth could be back on the table.

The commissioners are promising movement. Whether that promise holds will become clear in July, when the next formal conversation on STRs is scheduled.

If You Have a Stake in This

If you own property in the Mount Hood area— whether you rent it short-term, live next door to a rental, or are thinking about buying up there — July is when you need to show up.

This is the kind of issue where the loudest voices in the room tend to shape the outcome. The community already proved they'll show up. The question is whether they'll keep showing up when it counts.

Jennifer Schurter serves buyers, sellers, and investors throughout South Clackamas County and the North Willamette Valley — including Canby, Oregon City, Wilsonville, Aurora, Hubbard, Molalla, Woodburn, Newberg, Sherwood, Tualatin, West Linn, Lake Oswego, and the greater Portland metro south. Her goal is simple: to be the most knowledgeable, most responsive, and most genuinely helpful real estate agent in the area — every single time. Jennifer is a licensed Oregon real estate broker with Real Broker LLC.

Ready to talk through your next move? Schedule a time with Jennifer here. No pressure, no pitch — just a real conversation.