The New Orleans City council today took up the controversial issue of short-term rentals, like AirBnB and Vrbo. Council members are trying to balance property owners' rights with neighborhood concerns.
Residents complain that short term rentals have replaced their long-term neighbors with tourists. Many short term rental operators say they would lose their homes without the money they make from renting to short term stays. The council is considering new rules to limit how many short term rentals can operate in the city.
Part of the approved changes is limiting permits to one per square block. Such a move would result in a major reduction of short term rentals. It could mean property owners competing with each other for a coveted license.
So what happens when a square block has multiple applicants?
"The new ordinance does include a lottery system to allocate permits when there are more than one," Ashley Becnel in New Orleans Safety and Permits told the council Becnel said that they felt a lottery would be more equitable than issuing permits on a first-come, first-served basis.
During the meeting, several homeowners said without the money brought in by renting out part of the property as a short-term rental, they would be forced to sell their homes.
Councilmember Freddie King introduced an amendment that would allow for exceptions to the one-per-squre block limit. It requires multiple layers of review by officials, input from the public, and final approval would come from the city council.
"So there will be a cap, and that cap is the one per square block, with an additional two," said King. "So at the most, it would be three, again, partially-owned short-term rentals, that's somebody who is renting out a spare room in the back in their house, renting out the other side of their double that they live in. It's not, again, a whole-home STR."
It passed 5-2.
Other requirements include having the owner on-site while the property is being rented, and able to respond to complaints from neighbors.
The changes came about because the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the city's earlier short-term rental ordinance, ruling the requirement that the permit holder have a homestead exemption on the property violates the rights of non-resident property owners. Afterwards, a district judge imposed a deadline of March 31 for the city council to pass a new ordinance.
