Submitted by Carrie Downey
The fabric of our community is changing. If you have a home you rent out as a vacation rental, please consider turning it into a year-long rental. I rent out my first Coronado home to military families here on two- or three-year orders. For the first time in 12 years, I posted my rental on a Coronado rental Facebook site. I had to shut down the listing after only a few hours because I was overwhelmed by applications.
I had no idea how desperate our active duty and other families are to find housing this summer. I had applications from 1) Active-duty spouse stationed in Coronado married to a nurse at Rady’s Children’s Hospital, 2) Active-duty spouse married to a Coronado teacher, and 3) Active-duty spouse married to a Coronado Hospital nurse, just to name a few. I also had applications from a Coronado business owner and family, and Coronado City employee and son, who were each forced out of their current rentals because the owner wanted to move back in.
Short term rentals do not send children to our public schools. Military families do. Coronado employees do. All of the applicants I received had children. My past military tenants took better care of my house than I did. They fix things themselves. I manage my only property myself, so I do not pay a property manager. You could too and save the fee to allow you to keep more of your long-term rent. According to the City of Coronado Housing Element adopted in 2021, of the rental vacancies in Coronado, 74.6% were seasonal, recreational, or occasional use rentals. If just a handful of those 1,857 vacant short-term units would rent out for a year or more it could change the lives of a military family.
I remember being one of them when I was first stationed in Coronado in 1994. I am not receiving compensation, I am just trying to help. If you would like me to put you in touch with one of the amazing families serving our county who applied to me looking for a Coronado home, email me at [email protected]. You will be helping a young Navy family and our local schools. Thank you.
Carrie Downey
