For as much controversy as there can be around short-term rentals — businesses like Airbnb that rent out homes to visiting guests — a city report said there have been relatively few complaints about them in Alexandria.
In a report to the City Council last week, Land Use Services Division Chief Tony LaColla noted that there are 460 short-term rentals registered in Alexandria and 265 estimated unregistered units.
Since 2018, LaColla said the City of Alexandria has only received 33 calls through the Alex311 help line and only 65 calls to the police about those units.
Of the calls to Alex311, 48% have been complaints about trash and 33% have been complaints about parking. Of calls to the police, 15% were concerned about burglary while 14% were about suspicious activity.
“This is a six year period we’re talking about,” Mayor Justin Wilson said. “As I’ve talked with counterparts in other jurisdictions in this region and around the country, they often ask about this issue and suggest they’re getting deluged with complaints. While I would say in my 14 years here we’re getting more complaints lately, it’s still a very small number and this backs it up.”
Wilson called the number of complaints about short-term rental units “tiny”, but City Council member Kirk McPike noted that the number of called-in complaints might not accurately reflect the situation of those living near short-term rental units.
“We have very generalized benefits, but sometimes those negative impacts are very focused,” McPike said. “In a cul-de-sac near where I live there are three houses. One of those houses is now a seven room hotel designed to be a party house.”
McPike said neighbors on the cul-de-sac still struggle with noise issues from the home, but “they don’t send 311s because they’ve given up on 311.”
McPike said there are likely more situations around the city where conflicts between neighbors involving short-term rentals go unreported.
“They’ve given up,” McPike said. “There’s nothing they can do about the fact that it’s a bunch of people in this house that doesn’t have seven parking spots on the street and they doesn’t have any escape from the noise this house generates.”
McPike said that, before the city takes a victory lap on the low amount of short-term rental complaints, those neighborhood-level conflicts need to be addressed. City staff are scheduled to gather feedback on regulation of short-term rentals over the summer with new zoning ordinances proposed this fall.
“As we look at the policies we’re putting into place, those specific and very intense interactions are what we need to address so we can have a healthy short-term rental policy,” McPike said.
