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San Bernardino County officials temporarily stopped issuing permits last month for new Airbnbs and other vacation rentals over concerns that a tourism boom is pricing out locals in trendy desert getaways such as Joshua Tree.
Officials in Marin County instated a two-year moratorium this year on new short-term rentals in its western coastal communities. San Diego also approved a cap that is expected to cut vacation rentals in the city by nearly half.
Restrictions on home-sharing services in California are nothing new. Santa Monica, Sausalito and San Francisco, where Airbnb is based, have had such regulations for years.
But local officials in the Golden State appear to be increasingly revisiting these rules after demand for short-term rentals exploded during the pandemic and Americans chose to rent homes instead of hotels to ensure Covid bubbles or to have more space for remote work and relaxation.
Limits on short-term rentals, usually defined as a stay of 30 days or fewer, are often framed as a way to maintain affordable housing in California. It’s a worthy cause in a state that has painfully high rents and that is home to more than half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless population.
“Shortage of long-term housing, particularly on the coast, has reached a critical point,” said Dennis Rodoni, a Marin County supervisor who represents coastal Marin, according to CBS News. “More and more working families are being displaced.”
But the idea that a proliferation of short-term rentals is leading to higher rents for people looking for permanent housing is only partly true, experts told me.
In touristy areas, such as Joshua Tree and Venice Beach, some houses and apartments that were previously rented out for a year at a time have likely been converted to short-term rentals. That shift can limit the number of available long-term rentals and make it difficult for locals to stay in communities where they work and where their children go to school.
“It’s a supply-and-demand story,” said Richard K. Green, a professor at the University of Southern California and the director of the school’s Lusk Center for Real Estate.
But Green warned that it was unclear how many short-term rentals were actually previously leased to local residents. Many short-term rentals listed on sites like Airbnb may have always been vacation rentals, but weren’t as easily accessible or centralized before the emergence of these online platforms, he said. Others could be locals making some extra cash by renting out a room in their home or, when they’re out of town, the entire space.
Banning home-sharing services could “actually prevent some people from being able to afford living in some places,” Green told me.
In reality, restrictions on short-term rentals are often less about creating affordable housing and more about preserving the culture of cities, experts say. People don’t want their residential streets lined with visitors’ cars or tourists changing the vibe of their neighborhoods.
In Stinson Beach, one of the communities in Marin where new Airbnbs are now banned, locals worry about “the transition of a once hippieish, beachy town into more of an exclusive seaside playground,” The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported.
Indeed, the very communities that are strictly limiting short-term rentals are often the same ones that don’t want to create more housing in their communities, experts say.
If their primary concern was affordability for renters, “there’s a solution to that: build more housing,” said Michael Manville, an associate professor of urban planning at the U.C.L.A. Luskin School of Public Affairs.
“If you believe that the available supply influences the price renters face, the surest way to address that is to build apartments,” Manville told me. “The most uncertain way is to limit short-term rentals.”
That may be possible in urban hot spots. But in some affected vacation areas, it’s not necessarily easy to build a lot more housing.
In Stinson Beach, nestled between the ocean and steep hills, additional development is constrained by coastal protections and a lack of room to build.
In Joshua Tree, environmentalists worry that development is threatening the western Joshua trees themselves. They are pushing to permanently protect the trees as an endangered species, which would make construction more difficult. And because tourist demand is so high, investors are seeing bigger returns from building short-term rentals than other types of housing.
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If you read one story, make it this
Gov. Gavin Newsom is poised to sign legislation that would provide a minimum award of $10,000 to residents who successfully sue makers of illegal guns.
What we’re eating
Grilled chicken thighs with spicy cashews.
Where we’re traveling
Today’s tip comes from Mary Ann Mitchell, who lives in Folsom. Mary Ann recommends Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park in Mendocino:
“When you arrive, you can wander the trails along the coastline. My husband and I love watching the various seabirds soar through the sky. The sea lions are sunning on the rocks while the waves crash around them. The gem of this park is the lighthouse. There is a small gift shop and museum to explore, and the people working inside provide lots of history. There are also three former lighthouse keepers’ homes on the site. Two can be rented, and one is a museum. It’s so interesting to see how the lighthouse keepers lived. There are a few picnic tables near the lighthouse and the entry. Both make great places for a snack or lunch. It’s a place to recharge our batteries. It’s amazing.”
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.
Tell us
As water restrictions take their toll on Southern California, tell us: What’s going on with your lawn? Are you trying to keep your grass green? Or did the drought prompt you to rip out your grass?
Let us know at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Please include your name and location.
And, before you go, some good news
When Mark Nicco decided it was time to sell his bar in San Francisco, he wanted to find someone who would keep his family’s legacy alive.
The property in North Beach, the heart of the city’s Italian community, was first purchased by Nicco’s grandfather in the 1920s. He opened a dry cleaning business there and, after Prohibition ended, a cafe that served alcohol.
Now it’s Tony Nik’s, a low-key bar that Nicco has run for the past 21 years. He appreciates that his business isn’t like the raucous nightclubs and music venues that are common in North Beach, he said.
“I think we buck that reputation,” Nicco told SFGate. “Once people discover us, they just see how different we are.”
So Nicco decided to give his bar to someone who would help keep it as is. Earlier this month, he handed over the keys to one of the longtime bartenders.
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