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Under new ban, Anaheim will have one short-term rental property
Hotel union workers attend a press conference Monday in a South Anaheim neighborhood organized by an Orange County community activist group petitioning Anaheim city officials to ban short-term rentals.
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New short-term rentals will no longer be allowed in Anaheim’s residential neighborhoods and existing ones will have a year-and-a-half to get out.
At the moment are 363 short-term rental permits in Anaheim that visitors can book via popular websites such as Airbnb and Homeaway. All but one are located in residential areas, making the city council’s unanimous vote Wednesday to deny new rentals an essential ban for the time being.
The one permit not in a residential neighborhood is located in the historic Kraemer Building near Anaheim City Hall in a commercial area. It’s operating as a so-called “boutique short-term rental,” according to a city spokesperson. Nine of the 21 units in the building are listed and available to book for short stays.
“If I was living next to a short-term rental, I’d want it out tomorrow,” said Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait during a special city council meeting Wednesday.
However, council members Kris Murray and Lucille Kring dissented to phasing existing rentals out over the next 18 months. Murray said she believed the city needed to look into a full ban but had concerns about trumping short-term rental owners private investments in a short period of time.
“We have an obligation to make people whole if we are going to take property from them,” she said.
New short-term rentals could be allowed in the future in commercial and mixed-used areas. City planning staff is developing a program specifically for those areas and will present it to council in September.
The council will take a second vote July 12. If approved then, the ordinance would take effect after 30 days.
Correction: An earlier version of this story understated the number of short-term rental permits that have been issued and in operation. We regret the error.
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