Issues

Reduced Rental Housing.

Converting homes to tourist accommodations often takes long term housing off the rental market. Santa Fe already has very low housing availability. Low availability drives rent prices up. We need to preserve rental housing for residents who are tenants. 

Turning Neighborhoods into Tourist Districts.

For decades zoning districts have reserved the residential neighborhoods for locals and the commercial districts for tourists. This way the two uses support each other. Tourists use our commercial districts for recreation. The residential districts are reserved for people to live and raise a family. Airbnb and other short-term rentals have commercialized our residential districts. They have taken housing off the market and put hotels in neighborhoods.

Unsustainable Growth Rate.

In Santa Fe County, there is currently a moratorium on new permits on investor, "non-owner occupied" short-term rentals while the County evaluates their direction when it comes to housing loss and neighborhood issues. This moratorium does not affect a permanent resident who wants to apply for a permit to rent out bedrooms or a guesthouse. The level of short-term rental growth in the Santa Fe community is unsustainable and reduces our rental housing stock if a permanent or primary residence requirement is not adopted.

The Majority of Residents Lose.

The financial desires of a minority should not supersede the interests of the majority to supply workforce affordable housing and real neighborhoods free from deregulation and commercial hotel units.

"Non-owner occupied" Short-term Rentals encourage income inequality.

Local hotels, bed and breakfasts, and hostels provide jobs for locals in reception, housekeeping, reservations, food service and maintenance. These are predominantly medium and low wage jobs for Santa Fe residents who need places to live. The more tourists that use unhosted, "non-owner occupied" short-term rentals, the more the local hotels loose occupancy and reduce worker hours. The money that would have gone to the hotel to support our workforce now goes to the owner of a short-term rental property. The difference between a primary residence STR and an Investor STR is that the non-resident investor removes a home from our locals and workforce by taking long-term rentals off the market, and drives up homeowner purchase prices while that unhealthy competition raises rents for individuals and families.

STRs are 30 days or less.

Long-term rentals do not require a STR permit and are traditionally more affordable for traveling nurse accommodations, opera season and job relocation.

STRs are Neighborhood Nuisances. 

Nobody wants a hotel to move in next door to their home. The problems vary. "Non-owner occupied" STRs, that are not operated by a primary residence but operated by an investor for profit, are associated with disruptive guests, late night noise, traffic and parking issues, and transient visitors that replace neighbors.

More Losers Than Winners.

Investor Short-term Rentals such as Airbnb, VRBO provide only a fraction of winners from renting transient housing by the night. However, the rest of us are losers. Neighbors lose friends and get a revolving door of people on vacation. Workers at local hotels lose. Schools lose as family housing is turned into tourist accommodations. Tenants lose as the number of rental shrink driving up prices and reducing choice in the marketplace. 

Education is the key.

Help renters, neighbors and friends understand what the true costs are when an investor property owner (that is not a permanent residence) turn their investment property into residential short-term rentals that are hotels.

Stop the continued loss of Housing.

STRs that are not operated by a primary residence take a home away from someone.