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Committee hearing: Office of Short‑Term Rentals reports registration gains, increased proactive enforcement
Summary
The Office of Short‑Term Rentals reported growth in applications and registrations and described stepped‑up proactive enforcement, including notices to platforms; staff said the office had opened 423 enforcement cases and assessed nearly $700,000 in penalties, with about $160,000 collected so far.
Supervisor Scott Wiener convened a quarterly oversight hearing on May 3 to review registration and enforcement progress under San Francisco’s short‑term rental law. Kevin Guy, director of the Office of Short‑Term Rentals, delivered the office’s update and outlined registration trends, outreach and enforcement activity.
Guy reported that as of April 2016 the office had received over 1,700 applications and issued a little over 1,200 registration certificates (up from 879 in January). The office has rejected roughly 425 applications as incomplete and has about 112 applications pending review. Guy said the office had opened 423 enforcement cases since the program launch, issued notices of violation on 174 dwelling units, closed 169 enforcement cases and had additional cases pending. He said the office had assessed nearly $700,000 in penalties and collected approximately $160,000 to date, with significant amounts pending referral to collections and one large case headed to litigation.
Guy described outreach and accessibility efforts — press releases, interviews, in‑community registration events, weekly walk‑in hours and monthly evening hours — intended to make registration easier for hosts. Staff also described working with the Treasurer‑Tax Collector to identify hosts who had completed some registration steps but had not finished the Short‑Term Rental application.
On enforcement, Guy said the office has increased proactive investigations using web‑scrape data to prioritize cases, focusing on egregious actors (multiple listings, apparent full‑time vacation rentals) that remove long‑term housing from the rental market. He said the office had issued notices of violation to hosting platforms (HomeAway/VRBO and FlipKey) for failing to provide required, San Francisco‑specific information; the office did not report an auditing agreement with Airbnb to date and said it has not received comprehensive data on delistings.
Supervisors pressed staff on staffing (the office reported six staff) and on the split between complaint‑driven and proactive enforcement; Guy said historically 15% of cases were complaint‑driven but recent enforcement had shifted to roughly 40–50% proactive investigations. Public commenters — a long‑term neighborhood resident and a registered host — urged a mix of stronger enforcement for multi‑unit operators and community help for hosts seeking to register legally.
The committee unanimously voted to continue the item to the call of the chair for further oversight work and follow‑up.
Next steps: staff said outreach and web‑scrape tools will continue to be refined and the office will continue registration events and quarterly reporting to the committee.
