A disgusting exercise of raw power was on display at the Albuquerque City Council’s August 21^st meeting when the Floor Substitute for the Short-Term Rental (STR) ordinance was introduced. The goal was to strengthen the city’s existing STR regulations to reduce the speculative conversion of the city’s housing stock to short-term rentals favored by the AirBnB marketers. In July 2023, there were approximately 1255 STRs permitted in Albuquerque representing about 60% of the total. Many STRs are unpermitted.

Councilors Benton and Fiebelkorn and the City Administration had worked for months to fashion a compromise bill that would address the concerns of the opposition who were vociferous in their demands against “no new regulations!” Their principal objection was to the proposed cap on the number of permits for STR units. So the sponsors removed the cap altogether and hoped to introduce a Floor Substitute which reflected an acceptable compromise to all — a distance requirement between STR units so that neighborhoods wouldn’t be overwhelmed with the loss of housing stock transitioning to AirBnB units.

As the city invests millions of dollars to create new housing units, we’re watching hundreds of units taken off the market because of greed, pure and simple. Even the AirBnb corporate folks supported the city’s effort to pass some form of regulation consistent with their ideal of promoting a sharing economy.

Typically, a Floor Substitute is introduced and moves to a second hearing for a full debate. On August 21^st, in an unusual move, opponents wouldn’t even allow the Floor Substitute to follow that process and killed it without any public comments. Why? “Because we don’t like regulations and we have the power to stop this.”

The voices of Albuquerque progressives must be as vociferous. “The unhoused and those living on the brink of homelessness are your constituents too! Responsible housing regulations benefit the entire community!”’

September 1, 2023
Lora Lucero