Jefferson Parish Short Term Rental Ban

[Nicole575]

Hi

I am a local Airbnb host in Metairie, La where yesterday the city council voted to ban all short-term rentals in most of the East & Westbank Parishes. I assume I feel like most other people when I say I was blind-sighted by this.

It is absolutely absurd for them to push that strict of a ban. With over 500 short term rental hosts, and only 2 showed up to the council meeting to dispute, I can only assume the rest were shocked and unaware this was happening like myself. 

I am wondering why Airbnb never reached out to let us know this was happening or if there is anything we can do at this point. I would like to see if there is some change we can bring on and push for more regulations and rules like Orleans Parish rather than the total ban that was passed.

Any insight is encouraged and appreciated!

[Trent16]

I just emailed the following to AirBnB. I'll let you know when I get a reply.

As AirBnB may know, the parish/county of Jefferson in Louisiana recently passed a law that bans virtually all short term rentals. Jefferson Parish went from having no laws or regulations in regards to short term rentals to a complete ban with in a matter of a couple of hours.
I beleive the only thing we can do about this is file a legal challenge to the law. AirBnB should get with VRBO and any other short term rental management companies and hire an attorny firm to file a challenge to this law. To pay for this legal challenge all of us as host will have to agree to contribute a small percentage of our earnings from our short term rental(s).
Will AirBnB help the hosts of Jefferson Parish fight this far overbearing, far to reaching draconian law?

[Nicole575]

Hi Nicole,

My name is Brianna and I work here at Airbnb. Thank you for you message about the report regarding the possible short term rental ban in your area though, I apologize for the delay in response.

I'm part of the Customer Experience team which helps guests and hosts with the website and any issues during a reservation, so I am unable to comment directly on this subject. Hopefully the information will be of assistance to you.

We’re a global company and we make efforts to support home sharing in many places, but regrettably we're unable to get involved in every market.

Because jurisdictional agreements are handled by a specialized team that is not part of our customer experience team, we do not make contact with local government authorities directly. Similarly, they do not make direct contact with guests or hosts. This specialized team negotiates on behalf of all hosts in the area, does not do so on a case-by-case basis and does not reveal private/personal information.

That said, I'm happy to share a few resources that may be of help to you.

Airbnb Citizen is our central hub for information and updates on home-sharing legislation. It’s a great way for hosts like you to stay informed on home-sharing issues in your area. Here is the link: www.airbnbcitizen.com

We have home-sharing clubs in many markets. These clubs allow you to connect with other hosts in your area, either online in the discussion forum or in person at one of the monthly meetups. Here is the link to our Community Center: https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Home-Sharing-Clubs/ct-p/en_clubs

Our Responsible Hosting page provides a good overview of things to consider when hosting, and we have specififoutlining regulations in many markets. Please visit www.airbnb.com/responsible-hosting to learn more.

Thank you so much for reaching out to us and for being a member of our global community. I really hope this helps.

Best,

Brianna
www.airbnb.com/help

[Peggy105]

Any updates?

Peggy 

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*[Personal information hidden for safety reasons–in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Nicole575]

See the below response from Airbnb: 

Hi Nicole,

My name is Brianna and I work here at Airbnb. Thank you for you message about the report regarding the possible short term rental ban in your area though, I apologize for the delay in response.

I'm part of the Customer Experience team which helps guests and hosts with the website and any issues during a reservation, so I am unable to comment directly on this subject. Hopefully the information will be of assistance to you.

We’re a global company and we make efforts to support home sharing in many places, but regrettably we're unable to get involved in every market.

Because jurisdictional agreements are handled by a specialized team that is not part of our customer experience team, we do not make contact with local government authorities directly. Similarly, they do not make direct contact with guests or hosts. This specialized team negotiates on behalf of all hosts in the area, does not do so on a case-by-case basis and does not reveal private/personal information.

That said, I'm happy to share a few resources that may be of help to you.

Airbnb Citizen is our central hub for information and updates on home-sharing legislation. It’s a great way for hosts like you to stay informed on home-sharing issues in your area. Here is the link: www.airbnbcitizen.com

We have home-sharing clubs in many markets. These clubs allow you to connect with other hosts in your area, either online in the discussion forum or in person at one of the monthly meetups. Here is the link to our Community Center: https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Home-Sharing-Clubs/ct-p/en_clubs

Our Responsible Hosting page provides a good overview of things to consider when hosting, and we have specififoutlining regulations in many markets. Please visit www.airbnb.com/responsible-hosting to learn more.

Thank you so much for reaching out to us and for being a member of our global community. I really hope this helps.

Best,

Brianna
www.airbnb.com/help

[Shu2]

A canned response from the customer support won't help much. You can request them to refer the ticket to a supervisor or the legal team.

[Kathy-and-Joe0]

We got a similar reply from someone named Clyde.  Think that your idea about requesting a supervisor or the legal team is good.

Hi Kathy,

Thank you for contacting me about home-sharing regulations in Metairie, Louisiana.

We’re a global company and we make efforts to support home sharing in many places, but regrettably, we're unable to get involved in every market. That said, I'm happy to share a few resources that may be of help to you.

- Airbnb Citizen is our central hub for information and updates on home-sharing legislation. It’s a great way for hosts like you to stay informed on home-sharing issues in your area. Here is the link: www.airbnbcitizen.com

- We have home-sharing clubs in many markets. These clubs allow you to connect with other hosts in your area, either online in the discussion forum or in person at one of the monthly meetups. Here is the link to our Community Center: https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Home-Sharing-Clubs/ct-p/en_clubs

- Our Responsible Hosting page provides a good overview of things to consider when hosting, and we have specific outlining regulations in many markets. Please visit www.airbnb.com/responsible-hosting to learn more.

Thank you so much for reaching out to us and for being a member of our global community.

Best,

Clyde
www.airbnb.com/help

[Linsey6]

I spoke to my friend who is an attorney in NOLA.  his recommendation was to start with a petition.  we can all split the locations and just contact ourselves. 

Also,  another option is contacting our amazing guests and other hosts in NOLA.. If JP takes this option away,  and they are not only limiting our earning potential , but also hindering other people (our guests) who might not be able to afford a hefty overpriced hotel bill.  

It's funny to me, they'll allow big business to move into a neighborhood and shut down local business,  but heaven forbid the consumer actually have an advantage, and small business win out over big hotels.  It's called competition,  if the hotels don't like it, maybe they should provide better options for their guests. 

Ridiculous. But that's where we need to start , a formal petition. If we can get our past and future guests to spread the word about jp intentionally screwing them out of affordable rates while visiting nola, we could potentially blow this way out of the water. I've been a host for a little over half a year,  I've had plenty of groups of 10 stay. And I have their contact information,  and stay in touch with a lot of them.  Those 10, know 10, me alone could get the message to at least 2k guests or friends of guests.  

We can get this over turned.  We just have to organize and ban together.  I unfortunately do not have much time left over after all of my daily commitments with work and kids to lead this initiative. 

I'll draft a petition, at some point,  but if anyone can maybe look at the map in JP and assign out locations for each person on this thread to contact the hosts in their section, we'd start making some head way 

[Peggy105]

I can do the River Ridge area. Let me know what I can do to help.

Peggy

[Shu2]

any updates on this? I live in Gretna, which has not made a decision on Airbnb yet, but I am not very optimistic about it since it is part of Jefferson anyway. I am getting ready to buy a house in Orleans parish. Maybe even considering move to Orleans parish as I found that Jefferson parish is slow and backwards in many respects, including education and economy, the most two important aspects of our lives.

[Eric437]

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@Shu2wrote:

any updates on this? I live in Gretna, which has not made a decision on Airbnb yet, but I am not very optimistic about it since it is part of Jefferson anyway. I am getting ready to buy a house in Orleans parish. Maybe even considering move to Orleans parish as I found that Jefferson parish is slow and backwards in many respects, including education and economy, the most two important aspects of our lives.

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I would be very careful about buying a residential property in Orleans with the intention of using it for a STR especially a Whole House STR. City Council recently voted to revisit and study the STR rules and there will likely be some more changes to rules within the coming year. Might be nothing, but you don't want to be blindsided by the CC when you have a mortgage to pay.

[Nicole575]

Hi everyone. So I finally received a call back from my council person Jennifer. She was very nice to speak with and seemed open to hearing what I had to say. She mentioned she had been getting a lot of calls from residents who this ban will affect. She said as it is newly adopted , she does foresee some changes being made to the original ban. She plans to mean with her fellow council colleagues to discuss the matter in the future. I feel is it critical for everyone to put in a call, and continue to leave message until they can get in touch with their representative. 

[Nicole575]

Continued.... I mentioned how I have not had any disturbances with my renters nor any complaints from my neighbors. I screen my renters and have strict rules regarding parties, noise levels at night, etc. that they have to agree to when renting my home. 

They need to know about the positive effect Airbnb has on us personally and as a community. 

[Nicole575]

She advised me to reach out to her again in 6 months as she is gathering information and they can take a better look at everything. The more voices that speak up, the better chance we will have and changing /eliminating the ban. 

[Peggy105]

Hello, I also did not know of the meeting and would love to help fight this. My home is in River Ridge. Do I also contact Jennifer? I will call Jefferson Parish and see who is my council leader.  I can get the people in the River Ridge area, but think Harahan is excluded in the ban. Please let me know what to do to help fight this!

Peggy

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