San Diego may soon be taking the next step in defining a short-term vacation rental.
Short-term vacation rentals can be lucrative for the homeowner but critics argue the practice destroys the very fabric of coastal community living.
Ocean Beach resident Roy Orem's three-bedroom home on Point Loma Boulevard is his retirement plan.
Orem rents out his house four days at a time, 40 times a year and can make more than twice as much money then renting it monthly.
"I couldn't turn that into a monthly rental and afford to buy it at the same time it's just too valuable," Orem said.
Orem and his family were among several property owners who weighed in on short-term vacation rentals at an OB community forum Monday night.
Opinions heard at the meeting will be shared with community planners who will help form city ordinances that regulate the rentals.
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Some painted a gloomy future with them.
"You lose OB. You lose the soul of the community," said Frank Germline.
Some painted an equally dark future without them.
"It's our home too," Orem said. "That's over a million dollar investment."
It's the California Coastal Commission's desire to have affordable overnight housing for beach visitors.
San Diego wants a cut of the business in hotel taxes; coastal community homeowners want strict regulations.
“Each one of these homes that turns into a vacation rental is one less home that a family in the community can rent,’ a spokesperson for Save San Diego Neighborhoods said.
Some items on the negotiating table include zoning changes, minimum stays as well as limits on the number of dwellings in multiple and single family neighborhoods.
Some say current law prohibits short-term vacation rentals but others say the ordinance is so vague property owners have gotten away with it and skipped out on paying the bed tax.
The San Diego City Council is expected to cobble together a more understandable ordinance by November.
