Coast Commission Enforces New Short-Term Rental Regulations, Could Halve San Diego Rentals – NBC 7 San Diego

The seven-year battle over short-term vacation rental regulations is finally over after the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously Wednesday night to approve new rules for the City of San Diego.

The regulations are expected to reduce the number of short-term rentals in the city by 48% and 27% in Mission Beach alone.

While residents and rental landlords say the ordinance is far from perfect, they say it’s good to finally have regulations, especially people looking for affordable housing like Gretchen Newsom, which has been called Ocean Beach for over 10 years.

“I’ve seen our lovely town over the years be decimated by short-term vacation rentals, and the availability of housing for long-term renters just isn’t available anymore,” Newsom said.

The mother of one knows the issue intimately now as she says her landlord notified her that he was selling the house she lives in.

“I’ve browsed Zillow, I’ve browsed Craigslist. I browse everything out there and there are so few homes available. But when I go to the short-term vacation sites like Airbnb, there are literally more. of 100 available. And so where did all the long-term rental opportunities go? They transitioned to short-term rentals, putting profits above people in that case,” Newsom said.

The California Coastal Commissions vote is expected to roughly halve the number of short-term rentals citywide — from about 12,300 to 6,500 — potentially helping families like Newsom’s, according to Venus Molina, chief of staff of council member Jennifer Campbell, who helped promote the new set of regulations.

“Many of these units will be back on the market. Like I said, for long-term tenants or for sale,” Molina said. “And so I think that helps to reduce costs.”

The regulations could come at a cost to landlords of short-term rentals like Nancy Kramer of Julian, who owns two rental properties. They will have to participate in a lottery to obtain a license if they plan to rent their house for more than 20 days per year.

“I sold one in the residential area and bought this one so I wouldn’t have to deal with short term rental restrictions. I deliberately bought and spent a lot of money and bought in the commercial area, thinking I was safe, and now I am not,” Kramer said.

Airbnb’s head of public policy, John Choi, issued the following statement:

“On behalf of the thousands of San Diegans residents who are members of the short-term rental community, we applaud the doastal commission’s decision to unanimously pass the city’s short-term rental law. . Thanks to today’s decision, the City of San Diego will have put in place clear and fair rules to not only allow residents to supplement their incomes by responsibly sharing their homes, but also to support the return of l local tourism economy. We look forward to continuing our work with the city on the implementation of their regulations.”

The new regulations are expected to come into force in October. The California Coastal Commission will review their impact in seven years.