Long Beach residents use new law to ban short-term rentals in their neighborhood

A group of Long Beach residents have banded together to ban short-term rentals in their neighborhood thanks to a new law. 

The effort comes after repeat incidents involving loud guests, destructive parties and even a shooting in recent months in the College Estates neighborhood. 

"We had all kinds of strange activity going on in our very family-oriented, peaceful neighborhood," said Andy Oliver, the man who spearheaded the movement after the shooting ended up on his property. 

"The kid is chased cross my lawn and shot right at my front porch," Oliver recalled. "People have to live with this knowing that your house, your safe place, has now been violated by violent crime."

He's spent the last year attending city council meetings and working to get half of the 800 homes in the neighborhood to agree to the ban, but it didn't come easy. 

Oliver learned the ins and outs of an ordinance passed in 2020, which permits up to 1,000 un-hosted or unsupervised short-term rentals across Long Beach. A specific provision in that ordinance states that any resident can circulate a petition within their census block and ban rentals of that sort. 

"By going to each and every street, passing out fliers, talking to people — it was a really good effort to try to fix the problem," Olive said. 

He was able to secure more than half of the 800 homes in College Estates, officially making them the first neighborhood to completely ban unsupervised rentals.

However, Oliver's petition wasn't met without resistance, with some residents claiming that they depend on the business to get by. 

"I rely on the income to help me survive here in California," said Jean Young, who rents her home out on Airbnb in a different neighborhood. "Most of the people who stay here are referrals from my neighbors."

Long Beach community development leaders say that eight other neighborhoods have also filed petitions to join College Estates. \