CLEVELAND — After six years of trying, Cleveland City Council is hoping 2026 is the year it is able to get legislation regarding short-term rentals over the finish line.
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"What this accomplishes is it makes major, major strides towards regulations, something we have zero of right now," said Councilman Kris Harsh during Tuesday's meeting of the council's Development, Planning and Sustainability Committee. "We have no regulation of short-term rentals at all; they are operating wildly and lawlessly for the most part."
"It's essential," said Cleveland Councilman Austin Davis. "Every other major city in America has found a way to hit a balance to regulate their short-term rentals like Airbnbs and VRBO, and we're about to join their ranks. This is overdue."
The measure will require owners and operators to obtain annual licenses costing $150 and to carry liability insurance of $500,000. It would let the city revoke licenses for bad actors if there were, say, three nuisance activities within 12 months, for example.
It would also limit the number of short-term rentals in residential areas to no more than 10% of the number of houses or units on the block. That's down from the original proposal of 15%. It would also set a limit on the maximum number of people in the rental to two per bedroom, plus two additional people.
"This completely shuts down the party house concept, and if you turn your Airbnb into a party house, we will pull your license," said Harsh, who spoke of the calls he's gotten from constituents since joining council.
"I never get calls from anyone saying, 'Hey, guess what councilman? The house next door to me was purchased and converted into an Airbnb. Yay!' That does not happen. I only get calls complaining about them," he said.
Councilman Richard Starr is raising concerns that the legislation might not go far enough. Harsh stresses that council shouldn't let perfect be the enemy of the good.
Davis spoke of witnessing his first drive-by shooting in February of 2023 at a short-term rental across the street from him, where a party got out of control.
"Any system that doesn't have guardrails, there's always going to be certain people who take advantage of the lack of guardrails, and it's our responsibility as government to step in and make sure that, no, you can't be taking advantage of our community. You can't be making a profit off of violence and chaos."
The legislation moves to the council's Finance Committee with the hope of being brought before the full council on June 1.
