COUNCIL VISITS THE WAFFLE HOUSE
This article was published in the June 7, 2025 edition.
Nearly a year after launching its “Lease to Locals” pilot program, the Mammoth Town Council faces a critical decision: extend a flailing effort to house local workers or remove the one town-sponsored program serving the town’s “missing middle” – defined as workers who make close to the median wage and above.
The “Lease to Locals” program aims to incentivize homeowners who are currently not renting their properties long-term to lease them to residents.
The Council approved the one-year pilot program on July 3, 2024, hoping to target residents in the 80-120% Area Median Income range. Under that contract, owners were eligible to receive $4,500 per qualified tenant for long-term leases and $2,000 for seasonal leases.
The Town originally aimed to enroll 40 properties in the Lease to Locals program by the end of the year. But by January, only five had signed on, and as of Wednesday, there are just 11.
With most of the $425,000 project budget unspent, Placemate, the program’s administrator, is requesting a six-month extension on a reduced monthly fee.
Placemate staff acknowledged the disappointing start to the program at the mid-year mark and ramped up their marketing efforts to increase uptake. On Wednesday, Operations Manager Isaac Landman gave an updated presentation to Council, again acknowledging the program’s shortfalls.
Placemate manages several similar programs in other tourist destinations. However, to Landman’s knowledge, Mammoth is the only town working with Placemate where the money the Town set aside for this program will not be spent by the contract’s end.
And, as Councilmember Amanda Rice noted, Placemate charged the Town $106,000 for its annual administrative fees, nearly as much as the $122,500 the program awarded in rental incentives. While Placemate did suggest a fee reduction for the upcoming six months, the Town would still incur $36,000 (or $6,000 per month) in administrative fees if it were to renew the contract.
“I want to help our workforce,” she explained. “I also don’t want to keep wasting money or have it cost 50% to give away money because, to me, that is kind of the epitome of government inefficiency.”
Landman blamed the program’s failure on Mammoth’s seasonality and said the program still has room to grow with increased marketing campaigns.
“It’s a true ski town, and property owners had planned winter use for their properties,” he said. “We think that there’s strong potential for Lease to locals to have an increased impact on Mammoth Lakes in the Summer and Fall of 2025, which is when these property owners have indicated they’d like to move forward with the program.”
Councilmember Rice didn’t buy the seasonal explanation.
“We’ve been through two shoulder seasons, and I think a lot of people like to come up and use their short-term rentals for a weekend each month, and so I don’t know if people are hesitant to do this program because they like to use their place or if [they feel] a little nervous extending it,” she said.
Placemate’s program promotion included email blasts via the Mammoth Lakes Chamber of Commerce and the Town’s transient occupancy tax listserv, social media campaigns, and video promotions by a local realtor. It also advertised in what Landman called the local “print” newspaper, Eastern Sierra Now! which is a digital-only publication and hardly merits an exclamation point.
*Ed. Note: We paid these guys $106,000 and they did ZERO marketing
While this marketing campaign didn’t merit tangible results, Landman said it improved the project’s prospects. He said the program saw increased renter engagement through new rental profiles on the website, which allows property owners to connect with tenants. Since January, 21 property owners have expressed interest in the program, and three are currently and actively seeking tenants.
Of the 21 properties, 13 are preparing to launch leases this summer, representing a potential use of $184,000 in budgeted incentives ($18,000 a pop) if all move forward with the program. The remaining eight owners are considering participation in the fall or winter, which could utilize an additional $98,000 in allocated funds if they choose to enroll.
However, most of these properties are not yet in the application stage or even close to it.
“We are kind of constantly following up with these owners, saying, ‘Hey, what are you thinking?’” Landman said.
If the Council doesn’t decide to renew the contract, the Town remains obligated to make the incentive payments to property owners who have already signed leases. However, without a contract renewal, Placemate would no longer administer the program, meaning no new participants would be onboarded or supported moving forward.
But, as Mayor Chris Bubser pointed out, “Lease to Locals” is the only housing tool the Town has that specifically serves residents earning 80–150% AMI.
Without it, there is no existing solution for that income bracket, and it would cost more to hire someone in-house for services similar to Placemate’s. With this in mind, she remained hopeful that the program would grow eventually.
“It takes time for people to understand this is possible,” she said. “But we have folks who have a place here and never, ever come. I walk down Alexander Lane with my dog quite often, and there are homes where I have never seen someone, and I’m sure it’s the same for condos.”
Councilmember Brent Truax suggested the money spent on Placemate would be better allocated towards something like the Parcel or the Bridge Program, where the Town purchases properties and then rents them out, a suggestion Councilmember Bill Sauser seemed to concur with.
“These are very temporary housing solutions. Most people do want to use their condo. Some prefer winters, some prefer summer, so you don’t get the year-round lease out of it, I believe, and I don’t think we ever really will,” he started. “If we use this type of approach, there is no end because we never build the permanent supply necessary in any of the income categories to achieve full success.”
In an attempt to demonstrate the program’s prospective longevity, Landman cited broader data from “Lease to Locals” programs, indicating that 50–70% of property owners continue renting long-term after their incentive lease ends.
If this trend holds in Mammoth, it suggests that the program does have longer-term housing stability. However, there is already one Mammoth property owner who switched back to short-term rentals after a six-month lease under “Lease to Locals.”
In the name of diversifying the Town’s housing plan, Councilmember John Wentworth said, “I don’t know if housing in Mammoth is ever going to get solved. So I don’t know if it’s not a bad idea for us to have a program like this in the toolbox to give us some options.”
The Council, with varying levels of support for the contract renewal, urged the staff to negotiate the contract terms before bringing it back for an official vote in July.
