Raleigh leaders vote to change the city’s Airbnb rules — again.
The Raleigh City Council is following through on its promise to undo the previous council’s restrictions on short-term rental rules.
The old rules would ban most people from renting their entire homes on websites like Airbnb, as well as require property owners to stay at the house when a room is being rented out.
The council took a preliminary vote Tuesday to replace those and other rules with new ones.
The vote was 7-1, with Council member David Cox voting no.
Making short-term rentals more available could remove homes from the market and worsen the city’s affordable housing deficit, he said.
Under the new rules, operators of short-term rentals will no longer have to notify their neighbors when seeking a permit from the city, and backyard cottages, also called accessory dwelling units, will be able to be used as short-term rentals. The new rules will also lower the permit fee for operating a short-term rental.
The city’s Planning Commission must still review the new rules, and a public hearing will be held at a later date. The council will then take a final vote.
Illegal but allowed
Short-term rentals have been illegal within the city for years, but Raleigh leaders decided not to take action against them until rules were in place.
After years of debate, the council voted to create new rules, called Homestay rules, in 2019. People worried about short-term rentals in their neighborhoods praised the rules, but many short-term rental owners didn’t like them.
The council majority changed with the 2019 election and put enforcement of the Homestay rules on hold until they could come up with their own rules.
The new rules were recently discussed in the city’s Safe, Vibrant and Healthy Committee meeting where Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin asked that the city review them six months and one year after they take effect. The city will look for permitting trends with regard to short-term rental clusters or corporations buying up residential property.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Council member Jonathan Melton thanked the council for making policy based on data instead of fear.
“We need to be forward thinking, but also adaptable,” he said. “If issues arise we need to address them.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 4:18 PM.
