In the wake of a shooting at a short-term rental three months ago, the city is looking to strengthen punishments for problem landlords and will look at how its own enforcement agencies can be more responsive to nuisance complaints.
The Jan. 2 shooting at a home in College Estates outraged residents, many of whom showed up at the City Council meeting Tuesday lobbying for change, wearing T-shirts that read “Homes not Hotels.”
Andy Oliver asked members of the City Council to imagine what it was like the day of the shooting — that “sunny Tuesday morning with children playing outside” — when a 21-year-old man who was renting the home next door was chased by masked gunmen before being shot on his front porch. The victim then tried to bust into his house, “spilling his blood” on the property.
“Your house is turned into a crime scene,” he said to the council. “You miss work. Families are forever traumatized. And then new renters come in that very same night.”
More than a dozen people complained of loud parties and marijuana “wafting into our bedrooms” and film studios operating in homes that are sometimes rented by the hour.
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City officials said the bulk of its short-term-rental ordinance originally passed in 2020 is working fine; most landlords, they say, obey the law. Officials said 618 landlords are currently registered to run unhosted short-term rentals, meaning the owners don’t live there. The cap for those is 800.
Another 240 people are permitted to rent homes they live in.
But given the complaints and the January shooting, staff recommended changes to city law that include treating reports of violent crimes more seriously than other infractions; currently all violations are treated the same. Officials also want to eliminate lags in handing out citations to property owners and specify that rentals cannot be used for filming without a permit.
The city also proposed budgetary fixes that could include increased costs for those seeking permits to run short-term rentals. The added funds, staff said, would be used to increase staffing from one to two inspectors who can respond to complaints.
Christopher Koontz, Long Beach Community Development director, said staff will also improve its follow-up and response to calls made on a 24-hour hotline that residents can use to report problems with short-term rentals.
Melissa Rakiey, another neighbor of a short-term rental who spoke to the council, said the hotline is ineffective. She said she has complained about people blocking her driveway, parties with more than 50 people and verbal threats made by renters.
“The owner of the short-term rental next door to me does not respond to any of the calls,” she said.
The City Council ultimately voted 8-0 (Councilmember Joni Ricks-Oddie was absent) to ask its city attorney to draft amendments to the short-term rental ordinance that would come back to the council for a vote.
A few of those who spoke Tuesday urged the council to not go too far in making changes that would negatively affect a majority of landlords who follow the law.
“The tragic College (Estates) incident was an anomaly,” said Jean Young, who said she has been a resident and landlord for over three decades.
“Thank you for strengthening enforcement,” she said, “just don’t make the good hosts pay for it.”