11:01am
Manhattan Beach City Council has passed one of Southern California’s strictest short-term rental regulations. By banning rentals less than 29 days the new regulation aims to end short-term rentals all together in the beachside community.
Facing a rental housing crisis, community groups across Los Angeles are banding together to re-establish a sense of community in neighborhoods that has been disrupted by transient, short-term visitors. Visitors who seek to live like a local while on holiday by renting out properties on home-sharing sites such as Airbnb, and VRBO.
Already Santa Monica and Hollywood have clamped down on short-term rental practices and last week Councilmembers in Manhattan Beach voted 4-1 for the ban.
While the Manhattan Beach City Council acknowledged that short-
term rentals were an important source of income for some hosts who used popular the home-sharing sites like Airbnb, and VRBO, Mayor Wayne Powell said, “the residential nature of our community, the peace and quiet of our residents — that rules over someone’s profits.”
The Manhattan Beach decision came a month after Santa Monica City Council ended all short-term rentals with the exception of those properties who’s hosts remained on-site with guests.
Respecting pre-existing bookings in the lead up to summer, the city will not actively enforce the new ordinance in Manhattan Beach until after Sept. 1.
Short term rentals remain a hot topic in Venice.
Councilmember Mike Bonin and Council President Herb Wesson proposed legislation in early June to regulate the short-term rental industry, calling for authorization of home sharing while strictly prohibiting rogue hotels and making moves towards halting the frightening loss of rental housing across Los Angeles.
“The loss of affordable housing is unacceptable and we must act now to protect neighborhoods from people who abuse short-term rentals,” Bonin said. “We don’t want to take away someone’s ability to make ends meet by renting out an extra room or guest house, but we cannot tolerate how a growing number of speculators are eliminating rental housing and threatening the character of our neighborhoods.”
