NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS-Tourist magnet Santa Monica has just passed some of the strictest laws around for Airbnbs and other short-term rentals, voting to entirely ban anyone from renting out full units for less than 30 days and to allow home-sharing (in which an occupant rents just a room or a couch) only if the occupant registers and pays taxes on the unit, says the LA Times. Previous reports said that this move would slash the number of SaMo listings on Airbnb from 1,700 to just 300.
By eliminating full units for use as vacation rentals, Santa Monica has taken one of the strongest stances of any city against the practice of professional landlords hoarding all their properties for tourists instead of for actual renters, keeping housing off an already crunched and expensive market.
Full-unit rentals account for the overwhelming majority of the listings on Airbnb in Los Angeles, and for nearly all of the listings that actually make money. (Read the rest.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 40
Pub: May 15, 2015
