S.F. councilors approve short-term rental limits

Policy comes after complaints of tourist lodging replacing available housing

After more than five hours of debate, the Santa Fe City Council voted early Thursday in favor of adding new restrictions for short-term rental owners who offer rooms and homes as vacation lodging through platforms such as Airbnb.

City councilors listened to lengthy public discussion and held a debate that stretched late into the night on whether the city should impose measures meant to rein in illegal rentals and cut back on permitted ones in historic residential neighborhoods where people have complained of an endless parade of tourists replacing neighbors.

They debated a flurry of amendments — most aimed at curbing restrictions on rental owners — that ultimately failed to garner enough support.

Against the backdrop of the discussion is an extremely tight housing market in Santa Fe, where many struggle to find vacant, affordable apartments.

The policy approved Thursday limits the number of short-term rental units to one per person and restricts owners to one lodger every seven days in residential areas of the city. It also adds new reporting requirements meant to help find and crack down on illegal rentals and clarifies existing rules, supporters said.

The ordinance keeps the existing citywide cap of 1,000 short-term rentals and requires local managers to be available to respond to complaints 24/7, among other changes.

It also allows current legal owners with more than one rental property to keep all of them.

During public testimony Wednesday, people participating in a virtual meeting decried the measure as not going far enough to stop what some see as Airbnb’s onslaught on Santa Fe’s historic neighborhoods and available housing. They urged councilors to add an amendment that would require short-term rental owners to prove Santa Fe residency.

No councilor offered any such amendment.

One woman who spoke up during the public comment period said short-term rental owners are “taking housing out of the market for local people.”

Another resident, Pat Lillis, said services like Airbnb have “gone from a couch to an industry that displaces people from homes. It has become a serious problem worldwide.”

Explaining the policy, Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth defended the decision to leave out a residency requirement. She argued they were attempting to balance the “competing interests” of keeping the historic flavor of Santa Fe’s neighborhoods while not being hostile to a platform that many tourists choose in a city that heavily relies on tourism.

Others criticized the proposal for being too restrictive and punitive at a time when short-term rental owners are suffering from a slumped tourism economy.

Susan Orth, a Santa Fe real estate agent, said the “city should pause taking action on the ordinance to allow for the short-term rental industry to recover.”

She called the proposal “burdensome and unfair” to property owners.

Councilor Michael Garcia said about 40 percent of the shortterm rentals in the city are illegal and called enforcement the “No. 1 priority.”

Santa Fe Planning and Land Use Director Elias Isaacson said that number is likely lower: About 250 out of around 975 short-term rentals have city permits or registration to do business.

Councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler questioned Isaacson about the number of city rental inspectors and argued more are needed to enforce the rules.

“This is not a good time during COVID to be doing this kind of thing,” she said. “This council has taken all kinds of measures to protect our residents from COVID hardships and the like, and I know there’s a stereotype about short-term rentals … [but] not everybody is a rich Texan.”