AT LEAST 75% of Airbnbs operating in New Orleans are ILLEGAL! Because of lax enforcement from the City, this number could be even higher. Instead of providing housing for New Orleanians that are close to jobs and in the neighborhoods where we grew up, bad actor real estate investors sell out entire neighborhoods to get rich off of tourists.

There were 4,595 illegally operating short-term rentals in December of 2022–homes that are unavailable to the people who work and live in New Orleans. We need stricter penalties and proactive enforcement to stop bad actors. If they can fine street vendors why can’t they find, fine, and stop these profiteers?

There were 2,332 issued short-term licenses at the end of 2022, up from 1,900 in February of 2022. And despite a ban on residential permits while new regulations are being written, over 200 new licenses have been issued. Seems like City Hall is doing a lot to protect Airbnb speculators and not much to protect New Orleans residents.

The City could have collected a minimum of $519,500 in fines from just 12 illegal short-term rentals in 2022. Can someone explain why we are not enforcing our short-term rental regulations and collecting fines from thousands of other bad actors, not just these 12?

At least 566 recorded eviction filings since January 2019 are associated with an address in the City’s short-term rental Permit Application database. ONE evicted household is too many. Airbnb destroys our communities and puts families at risk of homelessness.

Can you afford a 21.1% increase in rent? That’s how much rent went up last year for people in the 70119 zip code, which includes the 7^th Ward, Mid-City, Fairgrounds, and Bayou St. John. Short-term rentals have already hollowed out historically Black neighborhoods like the Treme and continue to push into surrounding areas, and we’re paying the price of artificially inflated housing costs as a result.

Sextant Stays, a Miami-based company that infiltrated the New Orleans housing market during COVID, already has 258 short-term rental listings, and plans to DOUBLE their available units in downtown New Orleans. What we don’t need is more homes turned into tourist party pads. We need housing that is affordable to our residents.