New restrictions on short-term rentals will take effect in December, after the New Orleans City Council voted Thursday on an ordinance banning the practice in some parts of the city and limiting it in others.
Starting on Dec. 1, no short-term rentals will be allowed in the French Quarter or the Garden District.
The city council also passed a rule saying the owner of residential area properties (such as shotguns and other houses) must use the property as their primary home to host short-term rentals. Those that meet this requirement will be able to rent up to three units on their property.
The owners of commercial and mixed-use buildings (such as apartment complexes) will only be able to rent up to 25% of the units in the building out to short-term renters.
The restrictions would largely be enforced by the short-term rental companies themselves, who would be required to take down any listings that violate the city's rules.
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Airbnb, one of the most prolific short-term rental platforms facilitating the practice in New Orleans, criticized the regulation as hurting the city's economy.
"While this vote provides much needed regulatory certainty for home sharing in New Orleans, the rules unfairly punish responsible short-term rental hosts who are contributing to the local economy," the company said in a statement.
The company said they remained committed to working with the city as the new rules take effect.
According to a report from The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, critics said the rules did not go far enough and that the grace period until Dec. 1 gives large-scale renters who own multiple properties the chance to convert more properties into mixed-use buildings.
Large-scale operators will still be allowed to operate in non-residential areas, such as the CBD and other areas of the city where businesses and residential units mix.
But starting on Dec. 1, new applicants for short-term rentals in "commercial" areas would be limited to 25% of the units on the property.
Advocates were concerned that if the rental owners didn't want to be bound by the 25% cap, they would buy up new properties and units before the deadline. Any unit past 25% would be considered "non-conforming" by the city, and would be allowed until the unit was re-purposed.
Opponents of short-term rentals also lamented the council's refusal to act on affordable housing, which has been a growing concern in New Orleans as short-term rentals raise the prices of property throughout the city.
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Council members called for more studies on the affordable housing issue, but did not adopt an ordinance that some advocates wanted: That all commercial units leased be matched one-for-one with a unit set aside as "affordable housing."
Some members of the city council said they could revisit that issue later.
According to some estimates cited by The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, up to 8,500 short-term rental spaces are available throughout the city.
Only about 2,500 of them are officially sanctioned by the city (which stopped providing licenses more than a year ago, according to The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate), but since the current rules about short-term rentals were established in 2016, regulators have lacked the ability to challenge the other 6,000.
