NEW ORLEANS – The public is invited to speak at the City Planning Commission’s (CPC) special meeting on short-term rentals (STRs), on Tuesday, September 29, 2015, in City Council Chambers in City Hall – 1E07 – at 5:00 p.m.
The Short Term Rental Committee, noshort-term.org, said illegal STRs have become a hot issue in New Orleans (and around the world), because they:
• Replace neighbors with an ever changing cast of visitors
• Make full-time residents compete with tourists over housing stock
• Introduce unpermitted commercial uses into residential areas, and give neighbors no voice in the matter
• Bring health, fire, and public safety risks that affect neighbors
• Create a "nobody knows their neighbor" environment
• Are unfair to law-abiding businesses (B&Bs, hotels), which comply with zoning rules, pay commercial rates for utilities and insurance, and pay fees and taxes
• Remove housing units from use by full-time residents, which reduces the availability and affordability of housing for New Orleanians
The Short Term Rental Committee said short-term rentals in neighborhoods pose many concerns for residents, especially when they are being operated as businesses by absentee landlords.
They said an independent analysis of the impact of Airbnb (the largest STR platform) in New Orleans has been conducted recently, and the findings are sobering. They said the Nola Rental Report, nolarentalreport.com, found that 70% of the local offerings on Airbnb were “entire home/ apartment,” undercutting that company’s claim that most “hosts” are simply homeowners who rent out an extra room to help pay the bills.
The Short Term Rental Committee said in August, City Council vice-president Stacy Head directed the CPC to conduct a study on the possible regulation of STRs.
View the motion for the study here
