Long Beach residents share their opinions about short-term rental (STR) services, such as Airbnb and HomeAway, during a community workshop at the Recreation Park banquet room on Wednesday, May 2. While most in the crowd supported STRs in Long Beach, there were some who said Airbnb and other shared-space renting services would negatively impact their neighborhoods.
Long Beach city officials hosted the kick-off workshop on Wednesday as a way to better understand what the public wants as the City moves toward a proposed STR ordinance.
In March 2017, the city council— at the request of councilmembers Jeannine Pearce, Lena Gonzalez, Dee Andrews and Vice Mayor Rex Richardson— reviewed current regulations of STRs, following the growth of platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway in recent years, according to a City press release.
An STR is a property that is typically furnished and rented for a short-term stay. STRs can provide several economic benefits, including increased tourism activity, according to the press release. STRs can also present challenges to the housing stock in the city and have adverse traffic and parking impacts.
At the start of Wednesday’s meeting, councilmembers Suzie Price and Pearce gave opening remarks to the crowd.
“I was happy to bring this item to the council to ensure that we have a full process— including residents, homeowners and hosts— to ensure that we’ve got a process that is thoughtful of Long Beach,” Pearce said. “I know that many of us depend on short-term rentals as a source of income.”
Pearce represents a portion of the coastal district in Long Beach, which is where most of the Airbnbs are located, according to City officials.
Price said that she has met with residents that are for and against STRs in the city.
“I have talked with many of you in this room who feel very strongly that impacts of short-term rentals are detrimental to your neighborhood,” Price said. “I’ve also talked to many of you who are hosts, and you want to explore possibilities to allow Airbnbs in a way that is respectful and mitigates some of the impacts that have been raised by other residents.”
Jennifer Daugherty led the presentation at the start of the workshop. She is a senior associate with Lisa Wise Consulting Inc., which is an advising company the City hired to aid in the STR ordinance-development process.
She said that a major driving force behind the proposed ordinance is the sudden rise of a new type of economy.
“Sharing economy is really why we are here,” Daugherty said. “The sharing economy has shifted the way business transactions work, and that is because of the widespread adoption of the Internet.”
However, the City put in place zoning-regulation codes to oversee these services. As they stand now, the codes prohibit STRs where the host is absent, according to Daugherty.
“We are analyzing the existing municipal code,” she said. “Room rentals are allowed in all residential zones but are restricted to two bedrooms per home.”
Daugherty said that residents should keep in mind what is currently allowed and what is not as they give input for the development of the STR ordinance.
During the presentation, Daugherty said that as of March, 1,532 STR listings were active and there were 1,328 active rental units. Approximately 91 percent of guests that use STRs in Long Beach stay from one to seven nights. On average, STR owners can generate $10,000 per year in revenue, according to Daugherty.
A show of hands in the crowd revealed that most of the residents who attended the event were STR hosts and affiliated with Airbnb.
When the time for public comment came, most of the statements supported the idea of Airbnb-like services citywide.
However, there were residents present at the meeting that opposed STRs in the city, particularly on the island-style neighborhood of Naples located in Alamitos Bay.
One resident, who refused to speak to the Signal Tribune, said during public comment that he felt “very uncomfortable” about STRs in Naples. There were others in the crowd who agreed with his statements.
In contrast, a woman said that she was very happy working as a host with Airbnb. She said her guests come from all around the world, including Spain and Italy, and she added that tourists who stay with her spend their money in Long Beach. Her comment received applause from a majority of the crowd.
As the public spoke, City officials collected the input from residents to aid in the creation of an online survey that is slated to go live in June.
Throughout the summer, City officials will conduct more case-study research and community workshops, according to Daugherty.
The city council will give direction on how to prepare an STR ordinance sometime in the fall of this year.
