PLACE YOUR BETS!
This article was published in the June 28, 2025 edition.
Last Wednesday, the Mammoth Town Council approved 3-2 to extend the Town’s contract with Placemate to continue the “Lease to Locals” program, despite data proving the program did not meet its goals in its first year.
“Lease to Locals” is a rental housing program, operated by Placemate and funded by the town, which incentivizes homeowners who are not already renting long-term to lease their property to local employees. When the Council first approved the program in July 2024, Placemate boasted success stories in tourist-driven towns including Truckee and Provincetown, Mass.
Upon hearing this, the town committed $425,000 to the project, comprised of $320,000 in subsidies and $105,000 for administrative and marketing expenses. But by the six-month mark, just five property owners had signed on, and by year’s end, the town spent about as much on actual rentals as on Placemate’s fees.
Placemate pleaded with the Council for an extension on June 4, touting the program’s potential through stats of interested owners, and the Council recommended that staff negotiate with them on an extension.
Town Manager Rob Patterson and Community Development Director Nolan Bobroff came back with an amendment that stipulated Placemate would be paid on a performance basis going forward.
Under the new contract, the Town of Mammoth Lakes agrees to pay Placemate $1,667 for each property that enters the “Lease to Locals” program, up to the amount of $30,000. Monthly, that works out to be an estimated $5,000 per month if the program meets its target, Nolan Bobroff said.
The allotted $30,000 is in addition to the original $425,000 committed to the program, with $2,500 still budgeted for marketing fees to Placemate.
Councilmembers John Wentworth, Amanda Rice, and Mayor Chris Bubser voted to approve the contract extension, with Councilmembers Brent Truax and Bill Sauser dissenting.
Rice was hesitant to agree to an extension earlier this month, but said she was “very pleased” with the negotiated terms. She said she wanted more data on the program’s sustainability, and if the leases did not remain long-term rentals after the current lease terms ended, she would not continue to support it. Wentworth agreed.
Sauser said he was not a fan of the program and expressed concern about its seasonality.
At the program’s mid-year and year-end updates, Placemate stated that seasonality was a significant factor in the program’s slow uptake, noting that many Mammoth Lakes homeowners were only willing to rent on a long-term, seasonal basis. This was one of the significant points of the program’s potential, where the program’s leader said more property owners would sign up as the summer season progresses.
Of the 11 properties leased in the pilot program, three were seasonal. Sauser said this didn’t make sense for the local workplace and worried about their lease term not aligning with employees’ job commitments.
“I acknowledge our need for housing,” he said. “I just don’t, at this point, think this is the way to go.”
Truax said he was “torn” by the issue, feeling constrained by the cost but wanting a program that could address the 80-120% Area Median Income range, the “missing middle,” a group that makes more than state-subsidized rentals allow but not enough to afford the homeownership programs. The town does not currently have another housing program for this group.
Bubser, who has not wavered in her support for the program since its inception, said she was “confused by the pushback” from her fellow council members.
“I think that this is one of the most efficient cost-wise programs we’re offering right now,” she said. “If, indeed, we can get to a steady state, this is the most efficient way we have to put roofs over people’s heads.”
With the extension approved, Placemate promised to come back to the Council in the fall to present an update on the program’s uptake under the new fee structure.
