Homer draft would limit short-term rentals in 4 zones to operators' homes

Homer's Planning Commission will review a draft rule Wednesday that would allow short-term rentals in four of the city's residential zoning districts only on the property where the operator lives.

That would stop new short-term rentals on properties where the operator doesn't live in the Rural Residential, Urban Residential, Neighborhood Flex and Residential Office districts. Existing ones could keep operating until the property changes hands. After that, someone would have to live there permanently for it to stay a short-term rental.

City Planner Ryan Foster wrote the draft, and commissioners are asked only to comment on it, not vote. They're scheduled to review it again in December, and "no formal adoption date has been scheduled," according to the city's short-term rental page. The City Council has the final say.

The rule would cover rentals of less than 30 days with five or fewer units, not hotels, motels, lodges or inns. Outside the four districts, short-term rentals would be allowed anywhere homes are allowed.

Operators would need a permit and would have to renew it every year by showing the rental had been active. The council would set the fee. A permit would stay with the property and could pass to a new owner, except for the existing rentals that don't meet the new rule. Every rental would have to register a responsible property manager's contact information with the city.

Foster's memo asks commissioners whether bed and breakfasts should need permits and whether the application should list required items, such as smoke detectors and emergency contact numbers. It also notes the city could consider capping the number of permits after the code is adopted. The draft includes, as an open question, language letting the council set a cap by resolution.

Homer's last attempt to regulate short-term rentals was introduced in November 2023 and failed. In April, the council asked its Economic Development Advisory Commission to study the issue. That commission voted 4-2 in September to recommend the primary-home limit, and 4-2 to end grandfathered status when a property changes hands. Chair Karin Marks objected to including the Residential Office district, and Commissioner Jonathan Young wanted data first on how the changes would affect operators and the economy.

The commission's final report to the council suggested a registration fee of $50 to $125 and put the city's first-year cost at about $32,500. It left a permit cap for later consideration. Short-term rentals "affect housing but are not the primary driver" of Homer's housing problems, it concluded, and the proposed rules are unlikely to have a major effect on housing or seasonal workforce needs but may hurt existing whole-property rentals in residential areas over the long term.

The report counted about 451 short-term rental listings active in city limits over the past year, a figure that includes hotel rooms, bed and breakfasts, seasonal and commercial lodging and duplicate listings. Roughly 263 could be whole-house rentals with no operator on site. Homer has 3,071 housing units, according to the 2023 American Community Survey.