Thursday night’s New Haven Board of Alders meeting on short-term vacation rentals netted nearly six hours of public comment, both from residents grappling with a teetering housing market and local Airbnb hosts.
The city is considering adopting a proposed ordinance that specifically cracks down on home-shares in properties that are not the owner’s primary residence and offer stays for less than 30 days. The ordinance advanced 5-2 and will be voted on by the full Board of Alders next month.
Residents who rent out part of their primary residence would be exempt from the ordinance, and it would also be business as usual for traditional hotels, motels, and bed-and-breakfasts.
Morris Cove Alder Leland Moore, who co-sponsored the ordinance, said banning short-term rentals would quell the city’s existing housing crisis in anticipation of new housing units that are still under construction or in the planning stage.
“Building more housing is only part of the solution,” Moore said. “We must protect the homes that we already have.
“This ordinance allows residents to share their homes while preventing residential properties from being operated as short-term vacation rentals when no eligible resident lives in the home.”
Michael Piscitelli, New Haven’s director of economic development, who is also a member of the ordinance-drafting committee, said New Haven has made major strides in affordable unit construction including zoning reform, lessening restrictions on additional dwelling units, and updating long-expired housing code.
In a statement to Connecticut Public, Airbnb spokesperson Ivan Valladeres, said the ordinance threatens to “make New Haven more expensive for everyone.”
“We're encouraged by the many residents who spoke out against the proposal and urge city leaders to consider their concerns, as well as study the impact on local businesses, before moving forward,” Valladeres said.
A previous statement from Airbnb Policy Lead Michael Blaustein attributed the brunt of New Haven’s housing crisis to a lack of affordable units and called the ordinance “a harmful policy based on falsehoods.”
Many members of the public who elected to comment at the hearing said corporate landlords and property management companies turning a profit through Airbnb and similar online marketplaces for short and long term rentals, should be purged from the city’s housing market.
But skepticism about the ordinance rang through city hall, with many who testified asking for the ordinance to be revised before it comes to a full vote.
Testifiers at the hearing decried the city’s housing shortage and high rent rates, saying that even qualifying residents who work full-time cannot afford to move into the city’s available units.
Lamar Austin, a high school student who lives in New Haven, said he fears the personal impact of short-term rentals being unregulated.
“If the owners decided to sell the unit where my family and I live, we would struggle to find another home,” Austin said. “I fear that our landlord could refuse to renew our lease and turn our home into an Airbnb because they see they could make more money that way.”
Others drew attention to luxury apartment buildings in the Downtown neighborhood like The Taft and The Liberty, which flip rentable apartments into short-term rental spaces. Residents claim this practice can drive up rent costs and raise the overall property value of neighborhoods.
Some residents who testified in opposition to the proposed ordinance said it silos them into the “corporate landlord” category. Many said they used the secondary income of their rental to pay off their mortgage or fund their retirement.
“When I started my business, I was homeless for about a year, I understand that,” said Naomi Freeman, a local Airbnb host, “But we should reward local people who run responsible businesses.”
Airbnb hosts also worried the ordinance would mean more revenue for large hotel chains and eliminate “mom-and-pop” landlords.
Unionized hotel workers from the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale, who went on strike for higher pay in 2024, said that they have not seen returns on New Haven’s recent biotech and medical tourism boom because of short-term rentals.
“I’ve seen the tourism industry in New Haven boom, but it has not resulted in more work for me and my coworkers,” said Carla Vallati, a room attendant at the Omni Hotel, which she attributed in part to the expanding footprint of Airbnbs across the city.
The public comment portion inched the meeting’s close to just past midnight. Sitting Alder Adam Marchand reflected on testimonies from local Airbnb hosts.
“Will there be some individuals who will face some really difficult choices? Yes, that’s true,” Marchand said. “They will have to change their business models.” Marchand also encouraged short term rental hosts to seek out long-term tenants, which would preclude them from the proposed ban.
