by Thomas Breen
Three alders have proposed a new set of regulations that would ban short-term rentals like Airbnbs unless they are run by the property’s owner or “long-term resident.”
That proposal was included as a communication on the agenda of Monday’s full Board of Alders meeting. It now heads to an aldermanic committee for review before returning to the full board for a potential final vote.
The proposed ordinance amendment was submitted by Dwight Alder Frank Douglass, Wooster Square Alder Mandy Martinelli, and Morris Cove Alder Leland Moore.
It comes as municipalities across the country are grappling with if and how to regulate short-term rentals in an effort to boost housing supply and rein in rents.
It also comes as the local labor advocacy group New Haven Rising has undertaken a petition campaign building support for new regulations of short-term rentals. (New Haven Rising is affiliated with the Yale UNITE HERE unions, a powerful local political player that also has a direct interest in hotel worker organizing.)
“Corporate short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo are taking housing off the market and making our city more unaffordable,” the online New Haven Rising petition reads. It notes that New Haven needs an additional 8,500 housing units to stabilize rents, and that the city’s rental market is the second most competitive in the country.
“Development should be truly inclusive, and not worsen inequality.”
The city’s Affordable Housing Task Force also recommended back in 2018 that the city regulate short-term rentals.
In a cover later dated Monday, Alders Douglass, Martinelli, and Moore framed this proposal as responding to a “housing affordability crisis” that they say has seen local rents increase by 53 percent since 2023.
“The rapid conversion of long-term residential housing units into commercial short-term rentals directly inflates rental prices, shrinks our available housing inventory, and causes the displacement of long-term neighbors and working families from their communities,” they wrote.
“While we recognize that not all hosts are commercial operators and that some are individual owners renting out second homes, our neighborhoods urgently need those housing units preserved for long-term residents.”
The cover letter states that 15 other towns and cities in Connecticut have already adopted similar local regulations designed to “protect their residential housing stock.” A 2023 report published by the Southern Connecticut Council of Government states that short-term rentals are currently banned in such municipalities as Colchester, East Lyme, Norwich, Sprague, and Waterford.
With that in mind, the proposal would prohibit “non-owner-occupied vacation rentals while establishing a licensing program for primary residents who wish to rent out their primary residence for 30 days or less.”
An Airbnb spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article. The San Francisco-based tech company has pushed back on other short-term rental regulations across the country, including by filing a lawsuit against New York City, sending a cease and desist letter to Salt Lake City, and quietly funding a “Save Our Services” campaign in Los Angeles that calls for permitting more short-term rentals as a way of boosting government revenue.
“A Necessary First Step”
To quote from the proposed ordinance amendment itself, the law would prohibit “vacation rentals” in the city.
The proposal defines a “vacation rental” as “[r]enting for a period of 30 consecutive calendar days or less any dwelling unit, in whole or in part, for exclusive transient use. Exclusive transient use shall mean that no eligible resident of the dwelling unit uses the dwelling unit as a primary residence.”
The ordinance amendment makes clear that rentals within hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts shall not be considered vacation rentals, and therefore shall not be subject to the ban included in this proposal.
What about for short-term rentals where the building’s owner lives at the property?
The proposal as submitted would allow so-called “home-sharing” in New Haven, with “home-sharing” defined as “[r]enting for a period of 30 consecutive calendar days or less, one or more bedrooms in a dwelling unit that is the primary residence of the host.”
It then defines a “host” as anyone who is a “long-term resident” or owner of the property being rented out.
Operators of such “home-shares” would have to obtain and maintain a newly proposed “home-sharing license” — to be renewed every three years, and to be managed by the Livable City Initiative.
The ordinance amendment would also limit occupancy at registered short-term rentals to two adults per bedroom, and it would cap bookings to two separate visitor groups per date.
“We know there is more to do to ensure working people can have safe, affordable housing in New Haven,” the alders’ cover letter concludes, “and we believe protecting our existing residential housing stock from commercial extraction is a necessary first step.”
If approved and signed into law, this new short-term rental license program would take effect on March 31, 2027.
The website AirDNA states that New Haven currently has 728 active listings for short-term rentals.