Hundreds of San Diegans are renting out rooms using Airbnb and other online sites despite confusion about whether the practice is actually legal.
Current city code is vague and has allowed the upswing in whole-home rentals and partial home sharing to continue. In some parts of San Diego, especially along the coast, the vacation rental war has been raging between those who make money via short-term rentals and their neighbors who say it’s ruining the quality of life for everyone else.
Clarity could come Tuesday – that’s when City Council President Sherri Lightner has scheduled a City Council vote over proposed changes to the rules about renting out homes to visitors.
Airbnb caught wind of Lightner’s proposed changes and took to social media to tell its fans and followers that the proposal would eliminate San Diego residents’ ability to lawfully short-term rent or even share their homes, effectively banning home sharing in San Diego.
VOSD’s Lisa Halverstadt fact checks Airbnb’s claim and explains that while the proposal would bar whole-home rentals in many single-family neighborhoods, it wouldn’t amount to a ban on all short-term rentals.
Hey San Diego: Homelessness Is Not an Unsolvable Problem
The U-T’s Dan McSwain has been investigating the city’s homeless crisis since June.
In his latest report, he compares San Diego statistics on homelessness to federal and other state’s stats, which makes it painfully clear just how badly the city is floundering while much of the rest of the country is making progress.
McSwain says San Diego’s problem is political: “We have largely outsourced our compassion to government, and that choice has been unwise,” he writes.
He blames the city’s general lack of compassion, and also points a finger toward the region’s reluctance to build housing for homeless people, a leadership vacuum and the city’s slow embrace of the so-called Housing First policy, which essentially says homeless people should be given subsidized housing without being forced to meet any rigid requirements.
• VOSD has been focusing on the city’s surging homeless crisis, too. Catch up on our most recent stories.
Chill Out, Chargers Fans
Fans thinking about showing up to Qualcomm Stadium in the wrong-colored jersey might want to reconsider: San Diego has the distinct dishonor of being the NFL stadium with the highest number of per-game arrests over the past five seasons.
The Washington Post ran the numbers and took a look at the rise of unruly fan behavior in and around NFL stadiums across the country.
Police made about 25 arrests per game between 2011 and 2015 at The Q, and following San Diego were the stadiums in New York, Oakland and Pittsburgh.
Weekend News Roundup
• A teachers union and charter school advocates are pouring money into supporting opposing candidates in the race for a seat on the San Diego County Board of Education. (U-T)
• A rifle made to look like a walking cane was among the dozens of firearms collected at a gun buyback event in San Diego’s Palm City neighborhood over the weekend. The event was sponsored by law enforcement and community leaders. (CBS 8 San Diego)
• Sharp Healthcare administration and its nurses union can’t seem to agree on the numbers that should be locked into a new contract. (Times of San Diego)
• The Associated Press looks at several deaths of workers who were found dead in freezers, either because they were trapped inside by broken doors or overcome by lethal fumes from dry ice. Aaron Rabinowitz, whose father Henry Rabinowitz died inside a freezer in 2007 at the family’s Gelato Vero Caffe, makes an appearance in the story and says he thinks all industrial freezers should be outfitted with some kind of alarm.
• San Diego High School students held a rally Saturday in support of Measure I, which, if passed, would allow the school to stay at its current location on dedicated parkland in Balboa Park.
Here’s a VOSD explainer on Measure I. (Fox 5 San Diego)
• The once booming card room cluster in San Diego has nearly folded. One of the city’s two remaining gaming establishments recently closed and the other one is having permitting issues related to a federal criminal investigation. (U-T)
• San Diego musician Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez, a well-known figure and one of the founders of Chicano Park in Barrio Logan, has died. (San Diego Free Press)
• The father of the man who was shot and killed by a police officer in El Cajon last month announced that he’s starting a foundation to help push for police reform. (U-T)
• Tijuana Innovadora, an event happening in the border city Nov. 3-10, is kinda a big deal. (U-T)
• Y’all have until 5 p.m. Nov. 1 to request a mail-in ballot. (Fox 5 San Diego)
• The scary clown epidemic hit San Diego over the weekend. (Morning News USA)
For those of you looking to make some sense of this crazy clown thing, On the Media’s segment on creepy clown sightings offers a historical perspective that might help calm your nerves.
Social Media Moments
• A huge high-five to the owner of this weird and rad Halloween house, which is totally confusing and freaking people out.
• This dude’s whoopee cushion costume is THE BEST.