By Niki Cervantes
Staff Writer

March 20, 2015  -- Santa Monica, a city already facing a severe housing shortage across most income brackets, has seen a sudden jump in illegal vacation rentals that has irate neighbors complaining and city officials worrying.

The City of Santa Monica is home to an estimated 1,700 such units, said Sal Valles, acting chief administrative officer for code enforcement in Santa Monica – a big number for a city that has around 28,000 residential rental units and already has suffered a serious decrease in affordable housing.

“There’s been this tremendous growth ,” said Valles of the short-term rentals. “It’s been mostly in the last year.”

His office, he said, is on track to have received between 200 and 225 complaints by the time the fiscal year ends in June.  Most of the complaints are from neighbors.

“They complain about noise, about traffic, about people coming and going,” said Valles, who oversees a crew of 10 compliance officers now trying to squeeze the complaints into their other duties.

His  office had received  complaints in the past, he said, but  they seemed to hit “a critical mass” with the popularity of Airbnb, one of several “home sharing” web sites set up to allow property owners to list their homes, or just space in their homes, for short-term rentals.  He said Airbnb is particularly popular because it makes handling payment for services easier.

But one of the problems with home sharing: In Santa Monica, as elsewhere, it is illegal..

“You would need a license to rent out (space) in your house, and we’re not going to issue licenses to rent out in a residential area,” said David Martin, director of the city’s planning department.

It’s a matter of economics for all parties involved.  Supporters of the practice say that for property owners, using “home sharing” sites is a chance to pick up extra money.

Santa Monica’s listings often boast of ocean views and seaside ambience.

But the popularity of home sharing comes at a time when finding affordable housing in Santa Monica is more difficult than ever.  In fact, a report just released by the city’s Rent Control Agency showed housing for renters across most income brackets is declining, excepting the wealthiest of the population.

Affordable housing in particular has been hit hard since the abolishment of redevelopment agencies. The city used such funding to finance most of the construction of affordable housing in Santa Monica.

A recently released study by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy , a labor-backed organization, reportedly estimated that more than 7,000 houses and apartments have been taken off the rental market in metropolitan Los Angeles for use as short-term rentals.

Critics site such numbers as proof of how damaging the short-term rental market has become. Supporters say the rentals actually increase the economy. They also contend that those who list on the sites aren’t just people looking to make a few extra dollars.

The study reportedly found that nearly two-thirds of the rentals included were full units, and suggested that users of Airbnb are landlords looking to rent out space as short-term units instead of renting them as regular apartments.

For Santa Monica and other cities, economics is also a question.  Hotels and motels pay a tourism tax, which is passed onto guests, Valles notes.  Those using “home sharing” sites do not, although the city of Los Angeles is warning those who use the sites to start collecting the tax.

Valles said the issue will go Santa Monica’s City Council sometime in the next few months.