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About Us

The Pacifica City Council is preparing to pass an ordinance that will be financially disastrous to our city and will affect all residents. We are looking for voters to learn more about this ordinance and oppose it by emailing the City Council. Again, this is not a ballot measure. You don't get to vote on it. The Council will soon pass it without any voter oversight. On this website, you can learn more about why we oppose this and learn how to email the Council to help us prevent the ordinance from passing. Please get involved.

The upcoming ordinance, which will be voted on before year end 2024, will cap unhosted short-term rentals at 90 days per year. While initially this may not seem relevant to most Pacificans, it is. Unhosted short-term rentals (like AirBNB) currently generate 5% of our total city revenue. If the council passes the ordinance, at best, we will lose nearly half of this revenue. More likely, we will lose all of it. This amounts to $2 million dollars directly removed from our annual city budget.

Moreover, the ordinance, which is designed to make it unprofitable and onerous to operate an unhosted AirBNB, will harm operators who have done nothing wrong and will do little to eliminate bad operators who will simply continue to operate outside of the system.

Aside from all of this, it will further hamper tourism to our city and harm small businesses and restaurants that rely on foot traffic — especially those that are not located near the small number of hotels in our city.

This affects all Pacificans. Our already strained City Budget is operating at a structural deficit. The city will be forced to cut services if we lose this revenue. Our organization opposes this 90-day cap and is asking all voters and business owners in Pacifica to help us message the City Council and ask them to change direction.

It's important for Pacificans to realize we do not want unchecked growth in short-term rentals. We are looking for approaches that eliminate bad actors, keep the current cap of 150 total units and allow all the benefits of responsbile tourism to our coastal community. Well managed, AirBNB rentals — that allow visitors to create lifelong memories here — are good for Pacifica.

We are merely trying to prevent the City Council from passing an irresponsible ordinance that would deprive the city of much needed tax revenue and a projected $6 - $8 million dollars in tourist dollars that short-term rentals bring to small businesses.

The city's own employees have warned the Council this will result in an immediate decline in city taxes and fees collected. In the words of our own City Manager, if they pass this, then next year we will need to outline city services that need to be cut. Again, this does not even account for additional loss in tourist revenue to small businesses and restaurants.

Please join us. We need your voice to convince the Council this is bad for Pacifica. We will be organizing and providing real-time updates in our fight to preserve responsible access to our beautiful city.

  • Pacifica currently runs a structural deficit on their city budget.
  • We are projected to experience an even larger budget shortfall by 2027.
  • Pacifica City Council is planning to cap unhosted short-term rentals (like AirBNB) punishing good hosts unnecessarily, eliminating nearly 5% of our city revenue with no plan to replace those lost essential funds.
  • Groups supporting the ban of unhosted short-term rentals make outrageous claims about where that revenue will come from.
  • Our neighbor, Half Moon Bay, which Pacifica is modeling their plans on is currently cutting emergency services and has no plan in place to recover their budget deficit of $4 million.
  • As a Pacifican, you should be concerned about disastrous financial policy that will negatively impact our community.
  • Currently there are a small number of bad actors among the STR group, complaints against short-term rental hosts currently account for 0.2% of police complaints.
  • We believe the current concerns about STR bad actors is easily remedied through effective enforcement. Enforcement that pays for itself.
  • We reject the 90-day cap on unhosted rentals, which make up the bulk of city revenues currently. The decision is fiscally irresponsible and bad for Pacifica.
  • We have drafted 6 policy proposals, that if enacted would immediately address concerns and eliminate any and all non-compliant, nuisance hosts.
  • We can enjoy the benefits of short-term rentals, while solving the problem of bad actors.

Pacifica for Responsible Tourism is a grassroots organization of vacation and hosted-rental small business individuals in the coastal town of Pacifica, California. We are hospitality entrepreneurs. We strive to make every hosting experience a positive one, for both our neighbors and our guests. We advocate for the protection of property and home-sharing rights. We believe that home sharing provides a lower-cost way for more people to access the coast, and also contributes to the vitality of our local economy. We love Pacifica and enjoy promoting and sharing it with visitors from across the U.S. and around the world.
City Council Timeline

First Ordinance

STR Study Session

STR Consideration Item

Consideration Extension

Council Vote on Ordinance

Oct 2022

Jun 2024

Aug 2024

Sept 2024

TBA
Council's Call to Action

Cap STR at 150 total units in Pacifica

More research needed from City Staff

Extend Council Discussion without further Public Comment

Order City Staff to draft 90-Day Cap Ordinance

Bring Ordinance to Coastal Commission
Our Response

A reasonable protection for housing in a coastal town with 15,000 total home inventory

STRs account for less than 1% of total home inventory in Pacifica but generate 5% of the total revenue for the City — roughly $2 million directly into our City Budget

Most accusations about STR hosts were purely anecdotal and absent of any proof

Some of the claims about STR hosts seemed wild, exaggerated and easily disproved:

For example neighbors claimed STR guests were blocking streets — making neighborhoods dangerous — but when asked for proof they provided a single photograph of one or two cars using regular street parking

Another group claimed there were "constant" loud parties. Asked if they had any audio or video evidence or any police reports, they had none

Hotel lobbyists speak at Council meetings without identifying themselves as such — and without explaining that they do not live or work or have interests within Pacifica

A small group of about 40 (very vocal) voters have decided the outcome for entire city

Anti-STR groups collaborated with and received financial and strategic support from outside hotel lobby groups

90-day cap has been identified by small businesses (especially in District 2 where there are very few hotel options) as detrimental to their foot traffic and revenue

Ordinance will pass unless enough voters reach out to the Council Members

Ordinance will hurt "good actor" STR hosts and will not necessarily drive out "bad actor" hosts

If this passes it will effectively create two states of existence for STR hosts:

Hosts located outside of the Coastal Zone will be required to follow ordinance immediately

Hosts inside the Coastal Zone will await a ruling from the Coastal Commission

The financial impact to City Services and our already underfunded City Budget affects all Pacificans