Coalition members: “New Haven is not for sale.”
A coalition of unions, churches, and community groups gathered outside City Hall on Tuesday evening to announce that they’ve collected more than 4,500 petition signatures supporting a proposed local ban on short-term rentals, like Airbnbs, that aren’t occupied by the property’s owner or a long-term resident.
Their chant: “New Haven is not for sale.”
The proposal — sponsored by Alders Frank Douglass, Mandy Martinelli, and Leland Moore — goes before the Board of Alders Legislation Committee on Thursday at 6 p.m. Martinelli said it could reach the full board as soon as next month.
“The rents are too high and the pay is too low,” said Clara Dewey, a member of New Haven Rising and Sunrise Movement New Haven, who said coalition members spent the summer knocking on doors. “New Haven is not for sale.”
New Haven Rising, which organized the press conference, is affiliated with the Yale UNITE HERE unions, a powerful local political player that also has a direct interest in hotel worker organizing. The coalition is pushing a broader “Affordability Agenda,” calling for more affordable housing, a city “where Yale pays its fair share” in property taxes, and better-paying jobs. Organizers said more than 1,000 short-term rentals were listed in New Haven this summer and estimated they have cost residents up to $29.9 million in extra rent over the past three years.
Mayor Justin Elicker told the Independent that he supports the proposal.
“The goal is to have more units currently being used for short-term rental go back on the market in the form of housing,” Elicker said. “For people that currently operate short-term rentals, our hope is they would rent out their units as a typical rental unit. LCI [Livable City Initiative] may need a bit more administrative capacity, which we would consider proposing in the next budget.”
Coalition members said that other Connecticut municipalities have already adopted similar rules. So have several major U.S. cities. New York City now generally bars renting out an entire home for fewer than 30 days unless the permanent resident is present; Boston and Los Angeles allow short-term rentals only in a host’s primary residence; Las Vegas imposes a strict ban on non-owner-occupied permits in residential zones.
The proposed New Haven ordinance would ban “vacation rentals” — dwelling units rented for 30 days or less where no one lives in that property as a primary residence. Long-term residents or owner-occupants could still rent out rooms in their own homes through “home-sharing” but would need a license from the city’s Livable City Initiative. Martinelli said that in two- and three-family homes, the other units couldn’t be turned into short-term rentals.
Hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts would be exempt.
Rob Baril, president of SEIU 119NE, called out what he described as “slumlord companies” that are in New Haven and across the country and that “gouge every cent out of working people in conditions that are often unhealthy and unsafe.”
Martinelli, a first-term alder who represents Wooster Square’s Ward 8, said her ward has become a prime target for short-term rentals as the neighborhood’s pizza fame draws more visitors.
“On my very small street alone, three short-term rentals have popped up just in the last two years,” she said. “Every time that happens, we don’t just lose housing. We lose a neighbor.”
She stressed that the ordinance would not end home-sharing, and would not affect longer stays by traveling nurses, visiting researchers, or graduate students.
Asked what she’d say to residents who own second homes and rely on short-term rental income, Martinelli said, “I would encourage them to do long-term. We want long-term residents here in New Haven.”
Moore, a first-term alder who represents Morris Cove’s Ward 18, said his neighborhood draws investors because of its waterfront and proximity to Tweed Airport. “If we don’t act now, I worry what our neighborhoods and our city is going to look like in 10 or 20 years,” he said.
Douglass, a long-time alder who represents Dwight’s Ward 2, said his daughter “did everything right” — going to college, earning a master’s degree, and getting a good job — but couldn’t afford to live in New Haven. She moved to Hamden, was priced out there too, and is now back in New Haven sharing an apartment with a friend.
Wildaliz Bermudez, director of the city’s Fair Rent Commission and the Democratic nominee for New Haven’s east-side 97th General Assembly District seat, said her office hears daily from tenants facing rent increases they can’t keep up with. She also shared her own story: When she and her husband tried to buy a home in Fair Haven around the start of the Covid pandemic, they kept getting outbid “by investors who then ended up turning those properties into Airbnbs.”
They eventually bought in the neighborhood, she said, but are surrounded by short-term rentals. “It means we don’t know who our neighbors are.”
Miguel Rosado, president of the New Haven firefighters union, IAFF Local 825, said the ordinance would create “more accountability and a registry for these occupancies to be inspected.” He said firefighters have found buildings that were subdivided and “have second means of egress actually removed,” putting both occupants and first responders at risk.
Airbnb has opposed the proposal — and has tried to mobilize New Haven customers to reject it — on the grounds that it “would hurt everyday New Haven residents while doing nothing to improve the city’s housing shortage.” And click here to read an opinion essay by a local property owner about his own experience running short-term rentals, like Airbnbs, and about his opposition to a proposed local crackdown.
Martinelli urged colleagues to support the proposal.
“I’m asking for your support,” she said, “so that next time a neighbor needs someone at their door, they have one.”
Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, UNITE HERE Local 34 spokesperson Ian Dunn sent out an email press release celebrating Tuesday’s presser — and reiterating the coalition’s support of the proposed new short-term-rental regulations.
That press release includes quotes from Alder Douglass, New Haven Rising Executive Director Rev. Scott Marks, and New Haven Federation of Teachers (NHFT) President Leslie Blatteau.
“NHFT proudly supports short term rental regulations with the goal of protecting affordability in our city,” Blatteau is quoted as saying in the press release. “At a time when we should be recruiting teachers to work in our schools, live in our city, and put down roots in our beloved community, we know that these hardworking educators who want to build a life here in New Haven just won’t be able to afford to do it. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Signs with “New Haven is not for sale” on Tuesday evening in front of City Hall.
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