St. Louis officials plan to crack down on downtown short-term rentals

By Judy J. Beasley Last updated Apr 3, 2022

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) – The heartbreaking death of two teenagers at an apartment complex in downtown St. Louis on Friday morning marks the second time this month that a teenager has died at a property rented for an event .

St. Louis police say Paris, 12, and Kuaron Harvey, 14, were shot and killed around 2 a.m. Friday at the downtown Cupples Station Loft Apartments. The family would have rented an apartment there to celebrate a birthday. The family also said the shooting was accidental. however, Public Safety Director Dan Isom said the shooting was being investigated as a murder-suicide.

“Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, this is incredibly heartbreaking and tragic for the city of St. Louis,” Isom said. “And it speaks to the proliferation of guns in the city of St. Louis and the fact that they are especially dangerous to our young people.”

This and the recent shooting death of a 16-year-old in downtown Ely Walker Lofts earlier this month also demands another call to action.

“But now, given recent events that seem to have taken a turn, and people now seem to be making sure that we have some sort of loophole when it comes to putting requirements in place to have Airbnb, especially in downtown,” said LaShana Lewis. , president of the St. Louis Downtown Neighborhood Association.

Lewis says members of the council of aldermen are working on a bill that he hopes will put barriers to renting properties as Airbnbs in the city center.

“Nothing to completely prevent it, but maybe just put a few more handles around it so we don’t feel like we’re as lost as we are now when things like this happen” , Lewis said. “And we feel like there’s no recourse or no way forward.”

Lewis expects it to be loosely based on a similar bill proposed by Alderman Christine Ingrassia in 2020, which would consider changing sections of the city’s zoning code to “permit and promote tenancy at term” and “to repeal certain sections”. of the city code regulating B&B establishments to provide a level playing field for traditional lodging providers.

The goal will be to require people to go through a formal permit application in order to use their property as an Airbnb-style rental. This would more likely apply to properties that are not tied to a management company, as these may already set rules and regulations on whether to allow short-term rentals in their buildings.

“It’s more about making sure the people who rent out the premises are responsible stewards of their properties,” Lewis said. “Especially when it comes to multi-family units like condos, like in apartment complexes, where you also have to think about what permanent residents might think and or experience whenever those places are rented out.”

While details are still being worked out, one setting Lewis would like to see is a policy requiring an adult inside the rented property.

“Just so we can make sure someone is there to help when unfortunate circumstances like the one that happened recently happen,” Lewis said.