🎯 STRisker: Bulletin - New Orleans, LA
City Officials Tout Progress, Residents Say Problems Persist
Crackdown or Chaos? New Orleans’ Battle Over Short-Term Rentals Heats Up
New Orleans has spent years trying to tame its short-term rental market—and now, the city says it’s finally cracking down. But between lawsuits, local frustrations, and an evolving housing crisis, it’s unclear whether the new rules are curing the problem or creating fresh headaches.
It started with a scathing 2022 Inspector General report showing enforcement was nearly nonexistent. Investigators found 12 unlicensed listings in a single day, highlighting both lost revenue and a flood of illegal operators turning family neighborhoods into mini hotels. That revelation triggered a major overhaul. The City Council boosted enforcement funding, growing the short-term rental inspection team from 12 to 20 and ramping up penalties.
The results are striking: last year, 4,385 illegal listings were removed. This year, 875 more are gone, and $1.5 million in fines has rolled in. Neighborhoods like the Marigny, Treme, and the Warehouse District have been the biggest enforcement targets.
But even as the numbers look impressive, the story behind them is complicated. In 2023, the city replaced its permit system with a lottery, allowing only one STR per block after a federal court struck down the “live-on-site” rule. The change left many responsible hosts out in the cold. “I lost my permit to a neighbor who lied on their application,” said homeowner Alex Robinson. “It just didn’t feel fair.”
The city’s stricter stance followed real-world consequences—like the tragic 2023 shooting at an unlicensed Airbnb that left one teen dead and two injured. Former NOPD sergeant Mike Cahn says that incident exposed how dangerous unchecked rentals can become: “It can really disrupt a neighborhood and turn bad really quickly.”
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Even so, critics argue the crackdown has done little to make housing affordable. Rental prices have jumped 25% since 2019, and Housing NOLA reports more than half of city renters now spend over 30% of their income on housing. When hosts lose permits, many turn their units into long-term rentals at higher rates, pushing tenants out.
Urban planning professor Michelle Thompson says the city must find middle ground. “It shouldn’t be one policy fits all,” she says. “Some neighborhoods need tighter control, others could use flexibility.” She and others suggest reinvesting fine revenue into housing programs or promoting accessory dwelling units to expand supply.
With over 3,000 new STR complaints filed this year alone, the battle isn’t over. For New Orleans, the challenge is no longer just enforcement—it’s figuring out whether the cure is starting to hurt as much as the disease.
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