SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – Supporters of short-term vacation rentals on Tuesday took the first steps to fight the strict regulations recently passed by the San Diego Council.
The new rules approved by the City Council are set to take effect year, but the effort to repeal is already underway and major home-sharing service have already thrown their weight behind it.
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Supporters of vacation rentals claim their clients, many of them in Mission Beach, are not investment firms but rather every day folks – some of them even retired.
Petitions have started to circulate demanding the City of San Diego repeal the new regulations placed on short term vacation rentals or put the issue before voters. Airbnb announced it would back the push for a referendum along with Home Away and Share San Diego.
“A lot of my clients are scared. This is their retirement home – retirement income. For a lot of my clients this is income that they live on every month,” Wayne Simard, Ocean Beach resident.
Passed in July, the city’s regulation restricts rentals to primary residences and for only six months a year. Council President pro-tem Barbara Bry crafted the motion. “That will stop investors from snapping up homes and condominium in our neighborhoods and turning them into mini hotels,” she said.
On Tuesday when asked for comment, Bry wrote in a statement to News 8 that said:
“I remain unwavering in my commitment to stand up for San Diego residents and neighborhoods and to fight for preserving our housing stock.”
However, groups like Share San Diego want a compromise. “The city of Palm Springs passed an ordinance that each individual property owner gets one vacation permit. That stops the investor from coming in and buying multiple permits,” said Simard.
If the petition fails it will likely not be the last effort. If the petition does gather enough signatures it would still likely not have enough time to make it on the 2018 November ballot and supporters would have to wait until 2020.