This Montana Democrat Invests in Company She Blames For Housing Crisis

Philip CaldwellSeptember 27, 2022

Monica Tranel owns up to $50,000 in Airbnb stock, financial disclosures show

Monica Tranel (YouTube) Philip Caldwell • September 27, 2022 5:00 am

A Democrat running for Montana’s newest congressional district may have profited off a company she says blocks Montana families from affording homes.

Monica Tranel has slammed Airbnb and other vacation rental services for depleting the supply of long-term rentals and homes in her state. But financial disclosures show Tranel owns up to $50,000 in stock in Airbnb, meaning she stands to gain from a company she said robs families of a “fair shot at owning and renting a home.”

Tranel’s investments could hurt her chances as she squares off against Trump administration interior secretary Ryan Zinke. The price of a typical home in Montana has increased by 46 percent since late 2020, according to Zillow, and polls show 77 percent of Montanans are concerned about housing affordability. Experts say Airbnb contributes to skyrocketing prices, as houses that would otherwise be available to Montanans are taken off the market and converted to short-term rentals for travelers.

It is unclear when Tranel purchased the Airbnb stock, which is currently valued at just over $100 a share, or whether she has seen gains on her investment. Airbnb valued its stock at $68 a share when the company went public in December 2020. Share prices rose to over $200 in its first months as a publicly traded company before plummeting at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tranel’s financial disclosures do not indicate when she purchased the stock. Tranel’s campaign told the Free Beacon she is “committed to putting her investments and retirement in a true blind trust” if elected, and remains focused on “addressing the housing affordability crisis facing Western Montana.”

Tranel has made the damaging impact of short-term rentals a focus of her campaign rhetoric on housing affordability. At a candidates’ forum last month in Missoula, Tranel said she would work to “make sure that the people who own homes in Missoula are actually living in them.” Her “4-Point Working Families Affordability Plan”