Hotel lobby wants RI lawmakers to allow cities, towns to control, or ban, short-term rentals
PROVIDENCE − Two years after lawmakers prohibited cities and towns from banning short-term rentals offered through online platforms such as Airbnb, the hotel lobby is asking them to repeal the law.
The legislation sponsored at the behest of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association is just part of a bevy of proposed bills in the General Assembly this session that would allow cities and towns to increases taxes, regulations, or to ban the booming industry.
Rep. Lauren Carson, D-Newport, said she introduced the bills to roll back the provision that prevents cities and towns from banning short-term rentals, and to levy a 10% impact fee, at the hotel lobbying group's behest.
Carson said she wants to get the legislature out of the "business of regulating" short-term rentals and put the onus back on municipalities.
Cities and towns still can, and do, regulate short-term rentals, while a 2021 law prevents them from banning them and also requires owners to register with the state.
Short-term rental owners complain of poor access to legislators
Among the biggest complaints from short-term rental owners was the access the national hotel lobby had to legislators, getting to testify first, and without a time limit, in a meeting that lasted seven hours.
"You're only getting information from one source, and their job is to protect hotels," said Bill Gagnier, who owns three short-term rentals in Pawtuxet Village. "We don't have enough time to testify and we want to be a part of the process."
More: Short-term rentals are booming with online bookings. Is your town regulating them?
Gagnier said the hotel lobby wants to "eliminate or regulate" short-term rentals out of existence.
The American Hotel and Lodging Association's national policy counsel, Sarah Bratko, who is based in Rhode Island, said her organization doesn't want to ban the competition but rather "level the playing field."
New business or old business with a new look?
Short-term rental owner Shawna Rihani, who is a member of Narragansett 2100, a landlord group, said the number of short-term rentals in her town has stayed relatively steady over the last decade, although it has increased since 2007, the earliest data the group got from the city. In 2012, there were 2,739 rental units owned by 2,108 people. In 2021, there were 2,734 rental units owned by 2,192 people. Narragansett tracks and bills short-term rental owners.
More: Warwick moves one step closer to rules on short-term rentals. Here's what's changed.
Rihani said the reasoning that platforms like Airbnb and VRBO have "changed everything" isn't borne out by the data in coastal vacation towns, but efforts by local officials to artificially restrict housing, like preventing more than three college students from living together, is driving up housing demand.
William Walsh, who said he was representing the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, said short-term rentals may be playing a role in the housing crises, but the primary driver is a barrier to production.
What would the bills do?
In all, eight bills have been introduced across the House and Senate. Four were introduced in the House and Senate and four just in the House.
S 309/H 5712: Tax short-term rentals as commercial properties
S 310/H 6097: Repeal the law preventing municipalities from banning short-term rentals offered on online platforms.
S 164/H 5599: Prevent accessory dwelling units from being used as short-term rentals.
S 95/H 5475: Remove the exemption from the state's hotel tax for houses that are completely rented.
H 6096: Let cities and towns impose a 2% impact fee on the total rent collected for short-term rentals.
H 5645: Levy a 10% surcharge on short-term rentals to be used for "homeless initiatives."
H 5833: Require hosting platforms to post the registration number on their listings.
H 5714: Allow cities/towns to require notification of those within 1,000 foot of a house being used as a short-term rental
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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Hotel lobby backs bill to let RI cities, towns ban short-term rentals
