Albuquerque City Council to tackle short-term rental limits again

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Should the City of Albuquerque limit the number of short-term rentals like Airbnbs? Last year, city council attempted, but it failed to pass. KRQE News 13 spoke with a city councilor behind the renewed attempt. The proposed change to the Short Term Rental Ordinance would only affect areas like Nob Hill, Downtown, and Old Town.

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“We’ve changed it so it’s much smaller, it’s not city-wide. Two, there’s a lot of protections for existing AirBnB owners. Three, I think attitudes have changed a lot over the last year,” said Albuquerque City Councilor Joaquin Baca.

Baca and fellow City Councilor Nichole Rogers are co-sponsoring an update to the Short Term Rental Ordinance, but unlike last year’s attempt which could have capped the total number of short-term rentals (SRT) citywide, the new proposal creates a distance requirement that SRTs cannot be within 330 feet of one another; and this only affects certain parts of town.

“This will be more Old Town, Downtown, and Nob Hill, which is the location of over half of all the STR’s in the city,” Baca said. He says he’s trying to make sure community housing needs are met. “For instance, we’re here in Barelas. There’s something like 80 AirBnBs here in Barelas, short-term rentals. Martineztown has something like 70.”

“Think about trying to buy a home, rent a home. If your grandparents are here and you want to live here, its really hard to get a place to live,” Baca said, “The other part then is the larger housing issue. We know something like 20 percent of our affordable housing is occupied by people who could afford market rate, there just isn’t market rate. And that creates that downward pressure and contributes to our unhoused population here in the city.”

Baca said neighborhood associations are in support of this. KRQE News 13 spoke with representatives of the Barelas and Martineztown neighborhoods who say they are concerned too many AirBnBs will lead to gentrification, limit available housing for residents, and erode neighborhood character.

However, others wonder about the effect on tourism if short-term rentals are limited. “There’s so many other issues to worry about here in Old Town and of course the greater Albuquerque area than AirBnBs,” said Pete Kassetas, member of the Old Town Business Community Association, “I think if managed correctly under the guidelines then it should be allowed so I don’t think we need anymore regulations as far as that goes.”

“There’s so much debate that went on last year over this bill so let’s not spend a ton of time, lets just pass it or lets not is how I feel. We all know the issue,” Baca said.

Existing short-term rental permits would not be affected by this amendment unless they let their permit lapse.

This will be introduced at Monday’s city council meeting. Baca hopes it will be taken up during the first council meeting in September.

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