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We strongly oppose the City Council's current plan to cap unhosted rentals at 90 days per year. The majority of our $2 million in taxes and fees — plus another $8 million in tourist revenue — is generated by unhosted AirBNB listings. In fact, 80% of all Pacifica short-term hosts only have one listing. Well managed, AirBNB rentals are good for Pacifica.

Instead, there is a way forward. If these 6 proposals were inacted — instead of the 90-day cap — Pacifica could eliminate any and all bad actors and allow good hosts to thrive.

6 Policy Proposals for Short-Term Rentals (like Airbnb & VRBO)

  • Policy 1: Three Strikes and You're Out
    Instead of convoluted ordinances that can unfairly hamper every Pacifican's right to use their property in a fair and equitable way, we propose a simple rule to punish bad hosts while protecting the good ones. Moreover, it leaves the option for citizens to short-term rent their property should they need to.

    Bad hosts, however, have no place in our town. Founded complaints of nuisances like parties or code violations result in:
    1st Offense: written notice of a violation
    2nd Offense: written notice of violation and fine of $1,000
    3rd Offense: notice of violation, fine of $1,500, and revocation of STR permit for 24 months
    Once the license is suspended or revoked, if they continue to operate, every day results in another $500 daily fine.

    These violations should be applied to the guests, the host, and the property owner. This model has a fantastic track record in places where the city and AirBnB work together to delist STRs without a valid permit.
  • Policy 2: More Stringent Noise Restrictions
    The city already has ordinances that ban noise overnight, but we further propose that hosts are required to install decibel noise sensors on the interior and exterior of their properties and make readings available to the city upon its request for compliance verification. Since this agreement will be included in the business license, refusal to turn over noise detector readings can also be a warning or violation.

    The city needs to notify the host and the guest of the noise complaint. Violations are mailed to the registered business mailing address.

    For example, if the police give a citation to loud partiers. A separate fine is also sent to the registered business mailing address of the host. In the past, we were informed by the city that many hosts don’t even know the guests were cited for noise violations. This policy ensures accountability on all sides by citing both the instigators and the host and encourages the host to take a more active part in vetting their guests.
  • Policy 3: Someone Needs to Be Accountable
    Each STR must designate someone who can answer the phone within 20 minutes and be onsite within 60 minutes, 24 hours a day, should something come up. This can also become a standard definition for "hosted."
  • Policy 4: Disallow Hosting Too Many People
    We took a unique look at this one, factoring concerns about houses that crammed a lot of guests or built-up rooms to allow for it. The purpose of this is for safety but also to hurt large corporations trying to create party houses. So in that spirit, this policy creates two separate triggers.

    Of course, each STR must cap the number of guests it can host to two per bedroom plus one more.

    But just as importantly, we advise the city to create a total cap for any short term rental of 8 total individuals. So in other words, no matter how many rooms you have, there cannot be more than 8 guests per booking. This disincentivizes corporations buying properties and instead focuses on the hosts who are trying to accommodate families looking to create memories here.

    We also propose no more than 1 car per legal bedroom with a maximum number of 2 cars per booking.
  • Policy 5: Keep Multi-unit Buildings For Affordable Rentals
    STRs should not be allowed in buildings with four or more units outside of the grandfathering of the 10 STRs currently doing this, so long as they are in good standing, without complaints.
  • Policy 6: Smart City Planning
    STRs should continue to be capped at 150 and not be overly concentrated in any one area. City staff should prepare a study to recommend the STR distribution for our town.
  • Beyond ordinances, Pacifica needs to push for more housing to be built. Its housing stock has grown by a mere 1% over the past eight years. Developers simply do not want to build in our town, and we believe it results from its lackluster economic growth. For such a beautiful town by the sea, we find this a tragedy. A responsible injection of tourism can change this by bringing in fresh energy and stimulating local businesses. Tourists spend significantly more than permanent residents (think about how you budget for your own daily spending while on vacation versus a more routine day at home). Further, lively towns are diverse towns, with a sprinkle of visitors from other places!