The Houston City Council delayed a vote this week on a short-term rental ordinance in hopes that more discussion at a Quality of Life Committee meeting Monday will get the regulatory document closer to something industry leaders and neighborhood residents can support.
The Quality of Life Committee, chaired by Councilman Julian Ramirez, meets at 2 p.m. Monday. At this week’s council meeting, Ramirez suggested “tagging,” or delaying a vote on, six amendments and the ordinance as a whole “to give council members a chance to digest and also members of the public a chance to weigh in on these amendments.”
“I’d encourage council members if you want to discuss in an open public setting in compliance with the open meetings act, this is a great opportunity to do that; members of the public as well,” Ramirez said of the upcoming committee meeting.
The City Council heard this week from about a dozen stakeholders including residents who say they have been victimized by nuisances and criminal activity in their neighborhoods, members of the Houston Association of Realtors, and a spokeswoman for the Hotel and Lodging Association of Greater Houston.
Council Member Abbie Kamin, whose district includes Montrose, acknowledged the need for amendments to a draft ordinance first discussed late last year and posted for public comment in March. The majority of Houston’s 8,548 short-term rentals are in Kamin’s District C.
Elected officials have said the matter is complex because enforcement can’t be addressed through zoning regulations. Critics of the draft ordinance say it offers a good framework but is unenforceable.
Real estate attorney Jason Ginsburg, who founded Houstonians Against Airbnb, said it would be impossible to enforce a short-term rental ordinance when a public disturbance he deemed a “street takeover” occurred on Washington Avenue over the weekend and the Houston Police Department “couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything about it.”
“Seeing what we’ve seen and knowing how hard it is to get HPD to respond to a noise complaint, do you really believe that the city has adequate resources to police over 1,000 STRs in our district and to protect your constituents?” he asked Councilmember Kamin.
Miguel Kremenliev said, “It looks like the fight’s over and the bad guys won.”
“Nothing anyone says today will likely sway one vote but I hope you reconsider soon, not only after an unnecessary debt from the preventable transfer of vast sums of wealth from your citizens to a handful of mostly outside interests in the form of the destruction of equity in neighborhoods, as folks like me, who can, may just flee these bastardized hotel zones for peace, quiet, and in most cases, the right to get a good night’s sleep,” he said.
Kremenliev previously suggested the city consider “putting some teeth into the current draft” by adding firm parking limitations, an emergency contact who can respond immediately and take corrective action, a sunset provision that the regulations expire after a set period for re-evaluation, and “accurate and appropriate” fees and taxes.
Resident Gretchen Gillis referenced a property in the Museum District and said the draft ordinance did not offer enough protection for neighborhoods.
“Violations and repeat violations would seem to result only in small fines for operators of large complexes such as the 20-plus unit property where there have been problems with noise, trash, parties, drugs, prostitution, street takeovers, plus an unbelievable amount of city resources such as police and ambulance activity for problems such as drug overdoses, domestic violence and SWAT team arrests,” she said. “I am not concerned about people renting out a spare bedroom on a short-term basis. What I am concerned about are the big operators … whose large complexes become nuisances by functioning as hotels without management or security on site.”
A summary in Wednesday’s council materials said the ordinance would establish “a registration-based regulatory framework related to the issuance of certificates of registration” and a fee for the operation of short-term rentals, declaring certain conduct to be unlawful and providing penalties.
Operators who rent out multiple units in apartment buildings have said a $275-per-unit proposed registration fee is too steep and balked at posting a personal cell phone number for a 24/7 emergency contact. The draft ordinance stipulates that if two or more convictions for violating the ordinance are secured in a 12-month period, the property will be removed from its hosting platform. Critics say it’s unlikely that will weed out the bad actors. Securing convictions will be challenging and hosts can just find another platform on which to advertise while they’re on restriction.
Houston Association of Realtors representatives said Tuesday they support “smart, enforceable regulations that prioritize community safety, protect our neighborhoods and support housing access while respecting property rights.” They did, however, take issue with the definition of the term “platform,” which, as written, would include listing tools like the multiple listing service (MLS) used by Realtors to market properties.
Stephanie Haynes, president of the Hotel and Lodging Association of Greater Houston, said the ordinance lacks a requirement for “basic instruments and life-safety [tools]” to be present on the property. Short-term rentals aren’t required to have fire extinguishers or clean sheets on the beds, but operators have said they hold themselves to a high standard of quality because their businesses depend on online ratings.
“Furthermore there is no obligation for short-term rental owners to share the safety and general occupancy information with guests, which raises concerns about the well-being both of visitors and the surrounding residents,” Haynes said.
Short-term rental host Martin Prenddergast said he and other hosts agree that regulations are needed to remove the bad actors. He asked for clarification on the timeline for registration and licensing. City officials explained that hosts will be able to operate during the application process.
Proposed Amendments
During Wednesday’s meeting, Ramirez read into the record amendments he filed jointly with Kamin and Council Member Sallie Alcorn.
Amendments 1A and 1B are “sort of competing,” Ramirez explained, as they deal with whether the burden of registration should be placed on the short-term rental owner or operator. In some cases the owner and operator are the same person.
Amendment 2 would allow the city to revoke all certificates of registration for a particular owner or operator “if we see that 25 percent or more of their registrations have already been revoked,” Kamin said.
“All of this started by bad actors in multifamily that are not only taking housing stock away but creating a public safety risk as well as a nuisance,” Kamin said. “We also have challenges with enforcement … So for example, if you have a location with over 20 units, if we start seeing — rather than having to go unit by unit to revoke every single time — if 25 percent of those units have already been revoked and it continues to be a problem, we can go ahead and address that entire property as a whole, which goes a long way with enforcement in reducing the burden not only on the city but on residents who are facing this over and over again.”
Alcorn introduced Amendment 3 and said its intent is to protect housing stock and not create a critical mass of short-term rentals in apartment buildings. Amendment 4 requires that applicants and employees receive training on recognizing human and sex trafficking.
Amendment 5 was proposed by Council Member Amy Peck in response to the request from the Houston Association of Realtors to clean up language on the definition of platforms. The language “needs a little more fleshing out with [the legal department],” Kamin said.
Council members repeatedly thanked stakeholders and members of the public for their feedback and reassured them that they were being heard.
“For those here on the short-term rental ordinance, we appreciate your feedback,” Kamin said. “We do think there’s a solution for you.”
