Here is the response released Wednesday to Councilwoman Jen Campbell’s proposal on regulating short term vacation rentals in San Diego by the main organization that has opposed STVRs for the past half-decade, Save San Diego Neighborhoods:
Driven By Expedia D2 Councilmember Jennifer Campbell Throws Her Constituents and San Diego Residents Under the Short Term Rental Bus
July 1, 2020 – It appears Councilmember Campbell has learned the political ropes in San Diego fairly quickly. She was elected less than two years ago. She told voters in District 2 that she was adamantly opposed to short term vacation rentals in San Diego residential zones – her constituent’s neighborhoods. And she said, she would work with her fellow councilmembers to enforce the existing Municipal Code, which prohibits short term rentals.
What a difference an election and eighteen months in office can make. This afternoon Councilmember Campbell rolled out a proposed short term vacation rental ordinance that would legalize short term vacation rentals in San Diego neighborhoods.
She didn’t do this alone. She did it with the help of one of the largest multinational short term vacation rental corporations in the world, Expedia, Inc. who touts itself as, “the parent company of leading short term rental brands, Vrbo and Homeaway.”
One has to ask, why – and why now?
Why, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has so severely damaged San Diego’s economy – including hotels and motels – would Councilmember Campbell want to legalize short term vacation rentals in San Diego neighborhoods?
Why, when San Diego is suffering under the worst housing shortage – and homelessness crisis -in decades, would Councilmember Campbell advocate for the conversion of residential homes
to short term vacation rentals for tourist accommodations?
And, why is Councilmember Campbell so anxious to have this proposed ordinance considered by the full Council this month – July? Why is she ramrodding this proposed ordinance which we
have yet to even see?
And finally, if, as Councilmember Campbell says, she talked to all the “stakeholders” – which includes San Diego residents, Town Councils and Planning Groups – why then is it that the only
community member present at the press conference was a short term vacation rental owner/operator?
These and other questions, including how the City will pay for the administration and policing of Councilmember Campbell’s new ordinance, need to be answered.