What should be done about short-term housing rentals in RI? A state panel is exploring it.
PROVIDENCE ? What does the state need to do about the proliferation of short-term rentals as they continue to draw the ire of neighbors, particularly in the age of online listing platforms Airbnb and Vrbo?
That's what a state study commission that held its first meeting on Wednesday afternoon is setting out to explore.
The chairwoman, Rep. Lauren Carson, D-Newport, said she wants the commission to look at the restrictions and regulations that municipalities have passed so far and see if there are specific areas where the state could step in.
More: Block Island could limit short term rentals. Here's what it would look like.
Short-term rentals listed on online platforms have been explicitly legal since 2021, when the General Assembly passed a bill that Gov. Dan McKee vetoed and lawmakers overrode to require short-term rental owners to register with the state and pay a yearly $50 registration fee. It also prohibited cities and towns from banning short-term rentals as long as they are offered on a "hosting platform."
Carson, who wrote the registry law, said an original provision, removed at the behest of the short-term rental industry, was a prohibition on advertising online if a rental is not registered with the state, something she will reintroduce in the next legislative session.
The prohibition would be the stick in a carrot-and-stick approach, she said.
The registry was also supposed to be a tool for municipalities, so each would not have to create its own registry of short-term rental units, Carson said.
What the state registry looks like
In all, 4,752 short-term rental units were registered with the state as of the middle of September, said Department of Business Regulation Chief Legal Officer Pam Toro.
Most of those units registered, 83%, come from the top 10 locations, with the top municipality, Narragansett, making up 21%.
Narragansett, 976
Newport, 539
Middletown, 459
Providence, 445
South Kingstown, 406
Block Island, 344
Westerly, 273
Charlestown, 228
Little Compton, 138
Portsmouth, 135
So far in 2023, the state has received 14 complaints about short-term rentals, mostly related to noise, their being unregistered or being in a residentially zoned area.
The state issued eight non-compliance notices, but no fines, as it worked with owners to get units registered, although some contacted by the state decided to stop renting rather than register, Toro said.
What comes next for the study commission?
Comparing how towns are regulating short-term rentals will be one focus of the commission, as well as seeing how the towns that are regulating short-term rentals are using the state's registry system.
A Providence Journal analysis in December 2022 found that that nine communities had short-term rental ordinances on the books, and others, including Block Island, were contemplating regulation.
Johnston, Westerly and East Providence regulate short-term rentals by requiring registration or perfunctory licenses but don't put limits on occupancy or mandate a certain number of off-street parking spaces. Warwick also regulates the rentals.
Barrington, Jamestown, Middletown and Portsmouth regulate the capacity of short-term rentals by creating occupancy limits of two guests per bedroom, while Barrington, Middletown and Portsmouth all mandate minimum off-street parking, one spot per two guests for Barrington and Middletown and one spot per bedroom for Portsmouth.
Newport, once a summer-house haven for the ultra-rich, has gone the furthest to limit short-term rentals by allowing only owner-occupied short-term rentals in all of its residential districts.
Is your town regulating them? Short-term rentals are booming with online bookings.
In 2019, Providence required owner occupancy of short-term rentals in four residential districts. In three of those four zones, three-family houses cannot be short-term rentals, and only two of the zones allow such rental of duplexes. The other two zones only allow single-family homes.
Outside of the four mostly single-family zoning districts in Providence, short-term rentals are allowed without the owner-occupied restriction in all of the city, wherever housing is allowed.
Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Providence Journal subscription. Here's our latest offer.
Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Short-term rental regulations in RI subject of new study commission
