NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A federal judge placed the City of New Orleans under a temporary restraining order, blocking them from enforcing the short-term rental regulations that were passed in March, but the head of the New Orleans City Council says negotiations are over.
The council is prepared to ban all residential short-term rentals if a federal judge rules in the plaintiffs’ favor that the regulations they passed are unconstitutional.
“What we gave them in March, we gave the courts, based on the request, was the final and best offer, and this council will not be distracted,” Council President JP Morrell said. “If the judge decides that that ordinance isn’t applicable, or we have to go back to the drawing board, we’re not.”
Residential short-term rental owner Elisa Cool Murphy said she doesn’t believe the council’s tactic is the right move.
“I don’t see a benefit to our city council stonewalling our judicial branch. I don’t,” said Murphy, who owns a short-term rental in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood. “There’s got to be a better, more collaborative compromise that can be arisen, and I think if they can remove themselves from this emotionally, we can work toward that.”
Morrell, however, said they have tried to work with short-term rental companies but to no avail and that short-term rentals in the city have been riddled with issues since their introduction in 2016.
“These large corporations pretend that they want to negotiate and be good neighbors; they do not want to be regulated,” Morrell said. “They want to exist as quasi-hotel-motel-bed-and-breakfasts that generate as much revenue as possible with as little oversight as possible.”
Murphy says regulation is the answer, not a ban.
“I actually believe that short-term rentals could be a tool to assist in the problem of affordable housing,” Murphy said. “If they were regulated appropriately and taxed, it could provide a revenue base to help lower-income individuals reach homeownership and multi-generational wealth.”
The judge is expected to make a ruling in the next two weeks, but in the meantime, the city’s chief zoning official says they’re not accepting any new applications for licenses or renewing old ones.
Public comment can be made during the council’s next regular meeting on Oct. 5.
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