Santa Monica passes strict regulations on short-term rentals

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (KABC) -- For more than a year, longtime Santa Monica resident Arlene Rosenblatt, a retired Los Angeles Unified School District teacher who lives on a fixed income, has relied on Airbnb vacation renters to help her and her husband make ends meet.

"It changed our life immensely," Rosenblatt said.

Whenever the couple traveled to visit their grandchildren, they'd open their home to vacationers, over time, earning some $10,000 in extra income.

"It's helped us cover the flight costs and it just helps us not go into savings," she said.

A new home-sharing ordinance, passed by the Santa Monica City Council this week, will put an end to Rosenblatt's vacation rental income.

The new ordinance makes it clear that vacation rentals for less than 30 days are illegal, and home-sharing is only allowed when the resident host is present during the guest's entire stay. Violators could be fined up to $500 per day and face criminal prosecution.

"We are really sad. It just even makes me sad to talk about it, because we had counted on this money to help us do some more refurbishing on the building and also just to give us that cushion," Rosenblatt said.

But not everyone is lamenting the new law, Jennifer Kennedy of Santa Monicans for Renters Right says it will benefit the city and its residents.

"This ordinance is really good for renters, because it's going to be returning a lot of residential units to the housing market for renters who want to live here, work here and be part of our community," Kennedy said.

"Santa Monicans for a long time have complained to the city about vacation rentals where people were coming and staying for two to three days, didn't care about the neighbors and they also were concerned about the fact that those housing units were no longer being permanently used by families who wanted to live here," said Santa Monica Mayor Kevin McKeown.

Airbnb released the following statement: "This proposal fails to provide clear, fair rules for home-sharing. We will continue to highlight the importance of fair rules with leaders in Santa Monica and throughout Southern California."