As city officials consider new restrictions on short-term rentals, including a contentious provision that would allow only one permit per person, industry advocates released research Monday showing vacation rentals had a $228 million economic impact in Santa Fe last year.
A summary of the news economic impact report, prepared by the public accounting firm of Moss Adams LLP, estimated direct spending from short-term rental activity at $162.9 million last year, up from $108.7 million in 2018.
The analysis also found short-term rentals generated $37.1 million in food and beverage spending in Santa Fe in 2019, about $12.3 million more than the previous year.
“Vacation rentals — and what this report shows — are a net benefit to the city,” Frances Maier, president of the Santa Fe Short Term Rental Alliance, said in a telephone interview.
“That’s not to say there haven’t been issues, but there’s issues with any sort of lodging, right?” she said. “In my view, the changes that they are proposing are putting so much burden on those of us who are operating responsibly, paying taxes, making friends with our neighbors, doing the right things, and it feels like the city is throwing the kitchen sink at us.”
The proposed changes, partly driven by neighborhood complaints, were considered Monday evening by the city’s Public Works and Utilities Committee, which voted 3-2 to move them forward to the full City Council.
Committee members rejected a proposal to eliminate an already existing provision that prohibits a unit to be rented more than once within a seven-day period.
“The challenges we’ve seen with our short-term rentals have been number of rentals, not necessarily the days of rentals being rented out,” said City Councilor Michael Garcia, who sponsored the proposal to eliminate the provision. “On top of that, we do not have the capability to enforce this, so it’s unnecessary for us to have a penalty or a limitation in the ordinance that we can’t even enforce. Nor do we have a plan to enforce.”
But Eli Isaacson, acting land use director, said the city does have enforcement mechanisms in place.
Just this week, he said, he looked into a complaint from a constituent about the frequency that a neighboring short-term unit was being rented through the city’s host compliance software.
“I know councilors feel strongly about whether that provision should stay or whether that provision should be removed from the legislation but ... to say that we don’t have any enforcement remedies at our disposal isn’t exactly true because it is something that we can audit,” he said.
One of the changes that has generated the most opposition is a proposal to prospectively limit the number of short-term rental permits to one per “natural person” in residential zones.
During the public comment portion of Monday’s virtual committee meeting, several people expressed dismay with the prohibition on renting a unit more than once during a seven-day period, as well as allowing only one permit per person.
A woman who owns two short-term rentals within walking distance of the Plaza said her units would be grandfathered in, but she said she still opposed the one permit per person rule.
“I do not believe it’s in the best interest of small business — a small business that we’ve allowed to develop with short-term rentals,” she said. “I have two short-term rentals, and I rely on them for income, and I would like the city to please consider that.”
Assistant City Attorney Sally Paez said the intent of the change is to limit speculation.
“We don’t want like a corporation coming into Santa Fe and buying up 10 houses for the sole purpose of making short-term rentals,” she said. “I think that part really reflects kind of an attempt to make this more local and less of a corporate enterprise.”
The proposal would require a local operator who must be accessible by telephone and able to be physically present at the rental unit within an hour of being contacted, which Maier described as onerous.
“The important thing is that if there was an emergency, it’s not me who you need to call, you need to call the police or the fire [department],” said Maier, who owns two vacation rentals on Garcia Street. “But all of us hosts are available and willing to attest that we’re available at any time.”
The city previously capped the number of permits at 1,000 in residentially zoned properties, but the proposed changes would adopt the limit by ordinance.
The cap, however, wouldn’t apply to “non-residentially zoned property,” such as the Business Capitol District downtown. The limitation of one rental within a seven-day period also would not apply to non-residentially zoned property.
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Report shows economic impact of short-term rentals as council considers new restrictions - Santa Fe New Mexican
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