LAKEWOOD, Ohio — In Lakewood, short-term rentals are frustrating some neighbors, and now the city is debating whether new regulations are needed.
Joey Artino has lived in his house off Delaware Avenue for five years.
"This street's full of families. People move to Lakewood to send their kids to school a lot of time. This is the last thing anybody wants to worry about,” said Artino.
But what’s made his street less enjoyable is a short-term rental right next door.
"There's a lot of noise, there's a lot of late-night parties, crowds, and overall, there isn't any accountability from the people who stay there or Airbnb as a whole,” said Artino.
According to Lakewood Police records, there have been 58 calls to that property in the last two years. Breaking it down:
- 25 citizen complaints
- 21 parking issues
- 5 suspicious activity calls
"You should know who lives next door to you. They should have to look you in the eye every day. There's no accountability when somebody's staying there for 24 to 48 hours,” said Artino.
Artino says he’s reached out to Airbnb multiple times about the home. We reached out too, and a company spokesperson responded:
“The peace of mind of local neighborhoods is important to us, and we take reports of community disturbance very seriously. Neighbors can reach us using our Neighborhood Support Line and raise urgent concerns related to a nearby property that they believe is listed on Airbnb. In the rare event an issue is brought to our attention, we review and take appropriate action, which can include removing guests, hosts and listings from our platform.”
But we also found the home listed on at least three other short-term rental sites, which is why Artino wants regulations.
"We think short-term rentals should be regulated by the city. Our neighborhoods should not be run by big corporations like Airbnb. We shouldn't be catering to them. We shouldn't be catering to outside investors,” said Artino.
Artino says regulation for him is many things, but part of it was keeping the owners local.
"What we're trying to do is create accountability for the owners of these short-term rentals. Ideally, we find a way to ban outside investors,” said Artino.
Council member Tom Bullock agrees, telling News 5 there are dozens of homes being used for these rentals, some causing problems.
"You've got a number of really unconscientious operators not creating safe conditions. You got party houses that are creating unsafe conditions for the neighbors or nuisance conditions for the neighbors,” said Bullock.
Bullock says City Council is talking with other cities about their policies.
"We're working through the development of guidelines to say, what would success look like? What does accountability look like? What are the requirements, what are the contributions to the tax base for these services?” said Bullock.
He hopes they’ll propose something by the summer, but Artino says he wants action as soon as possible.
"It's comforting to hear the City Council's making moves, but in the meantime, we're all just waiting. It's just words right now. We were ready for some action,” said Artino.
Nadeen Abusada is a Cuyahoga County and immigration reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Instagram NadeenAbusada or email her at Nadeen.Abusada@wews.com.
