Sunnyvale Adopts Silicon Valley’s Strongest Short-Term Rental Ordinance

This week the City of Sunnyvale adopted Silicon Valley’s strongest ordinance to regulate short-term rentals of residential properties, such as Airbnb, HomeAway, or FlipKey. The ordinance, which is aimed at mitigating the impact of short-term rentals on affordable housing, allows hosted-only short-term rentals, requires a permit from the City, and does not extend the policy to mobile home parks. It also regulates a maximum of 4 occupants per night at any given single-family dwelling. Additionally, the Council committed to monitoring the growth of short-term rentals in their community and keeping an eye on potential impacts to the local affordable housing stock.

As the “on-demand economy” continues to grow, there has been a rise in speculative buyers and absentee landlords purchasing apartment buildings or multiple homes and converting them to short-term rentals for profit. This takes desperately needed rental units off the market and puts the security of the community and the preservation of the neighborhood at risk. That is why it is imperative that policies that safeguard our communities, support quality jobs, promote a high quality of life, and preserve the ability for local governments to protect their residents be put in place.

Sunnyvale’s ordinance, which has stronger protections than San Jose’s, is a positive step in protecting affordable housing in Silicon Valley. As the City continues to grapple with this issue, there are additional protections that should be considered, such as a permanent residency requirement and a cap on the total number of days a property can be short-term rented per year. These requirements would ensure people do not turn residential space into perpetual short-term rentals and remove housing from the market.

It will be important to continue monitoring the impact of short-term rentals on affordable housing and remain watchful of how our local municipalities address the issue.

Do you have a news tip you would like to share? Would you like to contribute to The Left Hook? Email us at LeftHookBlog@gmail.com