The New Orleans City Council holds a special meeting today, to propose new rules for short-term rentals like Vrbo and AirBnB.
The city is trying to strengthen regulations after previous rules were gutted by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal. The court said it's unconstitutional to limit short-term rental licenses to people with homestead exemptions.
City councilmember Joe Giarrusso says that effectively pulled the teeth out of the city's regulations.
"The Fifth Circuit ruling, which is the law, gutted our regime and the way things worked and the way that we wanted to try and make it fair for people," Giarrusso said.
Now the council is considering limits on how many short-term rentals can go in a neighborhood, limiting how many people can occupy a short-term rental, and placing limits on noise and trash where short-term rentals are concerned. The council is also thinking about requiring the owner or a designated property manager stay on site.
"Either you have to live at the property itself or you have to employ somebody full time to be at the property when it was being short-term rented," said Giarrusso.
He says that would also give neighbors someone they could talk to if renters' behavior was getting out of hand.
The meeting is at 10 a.m. at New Orleans City Hall.
