The issue of what New Orleans should do with short-term rentals has riled up residents all year, and it seems like the city is close to crafting new regulations on services like Airbnb. Recently City Council commissioned a study on short-term rentals from the City Planning Commission looking into regulations for short-term rentals within the city's new Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance.
Those in favor of services like Airbnb say they help hosts afford their homes; provide travelers with an affordable, off-the-beaten path experience; and redistribute tourists' money from big corporations' hands to small businesses and residents. Those against short-term rentals blame the services for turning their residential neighborhoods into transient tourist zoos and contributing to a drain in affordable housing. They also say it's unfair that hosts are able to bypass the regulations and taxes that those in licensed bed and breakfasts deal with.
Instead of an outright ban, the city could possibly reach a compromise that looks like what Amsterdam does, which is allow residents to rent out their homes for up to 60 days a year as long as, NOLA.com says, "they pay tourist taxes and comply with fire safety regulations and public nuisance laws."
What do you think: Should New Orleans ban short-term rentals altogether, regulate them, or leave things how they are?
· Porch Art Skewers Airbnb-ification of Bywater [Curbed NOLA]
· New Orleans confronts unlicensed short-term rentals: to legalize or keep ban? [NOLA.com]
· New Orleans City Council committee green lights short term rental study [Gambit]
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