The College Estates area of Long Beach, California, has become the first to ban unsupervised Airbnb rentals after problems such as loud parties and drug use put neighbors on edge.
Resident Andy Oliver filed a petition in April with the city’s Community Development Department after he and others endured months of tourists renting the homes and causing all kinds of problems, Fox News reported Monday.
The outlet said those tourists also took “advantage of the state’s lax drug laws,” while also listening to loud music when the neighborhood was trying to get some sleep at night. However, the issue came to a head when a shooting victim wound up on Oliver’s property.
Throughout 2023, Oliver attended city council meetings to try and get help with the problem, KCAL News reported May 8.
“We even found out the homeowner was renting his place out by the hour through a site called Peerspace. So we had all kinds of strange activity going on in our very safe, peaceful, family-oriented neighborhood,” he told the outlet:
“People have to live with this knowing your house, your safe place, has now been violated by this violent crime,” he added when referencing the shooting incident.
Due to his efforts more than half of approximately 800 homes have agreed and the updated restrictions have been passed, the Fox report continued.
“According to a city ordinance passed in 2020, Long Beach is permitted to have 1,000 un-hosted or unsupervised short-term rentals. However, a provision allowed residents to circulate petitions that could ban these types of rentals,” the article said.
Now, home rentals in College Estates are required to have a host on site or close down once their license expires.
The advocacy group identified as Long Beach Safe Neighborhood Coalition told Fox News it has received inquiries from areas in North Carolina and Florida where homeowners are facing the same problems.
“This is a nationwide (really worldwide) issue that is affecting communities everywhere — and residents are standing up against the proliferation of short-term rentals that are transforming once quiet, peaceful neighborhoods into tourist districts and crime havens,” the group said.
In 2022, Airbnb enforced a permanent party ban, and Airbnb Director of Trust and Safety Communications Ben Breit told CBS 8. “We have taken down a number of party houses in San Diego and will continue to do so.”
In January 2023, law enforcement said six people were arrested following a quadruple stabbing at an Airbnb home in North Carolina, Breitbart News reported at the time.
