Arbitrary cap on short-term rentals wrong approach

UPDATE: We are pleased to report that City Council rejected the proposed cap.

Albuquerque’s City Council is considering (possibly tonight) a number of new regulations on so-called short-term rentals. The proposed number is 1,200 citywide which is purely arbitrary and could easily prove to be inadequate now or at some time in the future (thus requiring a new law). Also, if you are going to cap short-term rentals, why not cap the number of hotel rooms?

The existing permitting regime (if strictly enforced) and arbitrary cap could have especially harmful impacts during Balloon Fiesta when, according to the Albuquerque Journal, “the number of available rentals shot up by about 600 units between August and October to 2,310 units.”

That increased supply is directly correlated with the reality that hotel rooms become expensive as people flock to the City for it’s biggest event of the year.

Furthermore, the proposed “cap” is not a real cap because it doesn’t include single rooms. We’re not advocating the cap be made more strict, but simply note that enacting the cap will result in a shift toward single rooms and any other exemptions that can be found.