In the wake of a mass shooting on Columbus’ East Side that left one teenager dead and five others wounded over the Independence Day holiday weekend, city leaders are exploring how to better regulate “party houses” that develop from short-term rentals on websites like Airbnb or Vrbo.
Mayor Andrew J. Ginther has said he’s considering asking the City Council to take legislative action, but provided few details, after a shooting early July 4 on the 800 block of Wilson Avenue killed 17-year-old Cameron Moore and wounded a second juvenile and four adults.
“We don’t have any specific detailed plans at this moment. We’re looking at best practices and ideas that we can hold people accountable, whether they’re renting these short-term rentals, but also people that may be organizing these large gatherings,” Ginther told The Dispatch on July 8.
City Council President Shannon Hardin responded in a statement, saying: “Council spearheaded regulation of short-term rentals in the past, and I would support updating those rules to crack down on party houses.”
City Council passed legislation in recent years that requires short-term rental operators to get a permit from the city and undergo a background check. The city requires that there be a contact associated with a permit who is reachable 24/7 in case of a neighbor complaint.
In 2021, Councilmember Rob Dorans spearheaded an ordinance that made it easier for the city to revoke a permit, including if the rental is involved in three 911 calls in a year or there’s a criminal pattern at the property.
“We wanted to give both the Division of Licensing and the city attorney tools to crack down on party houses,” he said.
But that doesn’t mean the council is done regulating rentals. This has always been an evolving regulatory process, said Dorans, who is now the council president pro tempore.
“We will always be open to changes that make sense and improve safety,” Dorans said.
Dorans said he’d like Columbus to look at how other cities regulate short-term rentals because this problem is not unique to Columbus.
However, Dorans said that short-term rental providers have lobbied the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature to pass legislation preventing local regulations. So far, none of those bills have passed.
“We are always mindful that this could be something the General Assembly could take up and remove our ability to regulate,” Dorans said.
There are currently 1,634 properties licensed with Columbus on Airbnb and 990 licensed properties on Vrbo, with many properties listed on both, according to the Columbus Department of Building and Zoning Services.
According to a permit granted to the owner of the Wilson Avenue home where the party and shooting occurred, they applied to list the property on Vrbo, Airbnb and Furnished Finder. The owner did not respond to Dispatch calls.
While Airbnb restricts parties and events at its rentals, Vrbo has no such policy.
The Wilson Road home was previously seen by The Dispatch on Vrbo’s website. Expedia, Vrbo’s parent company, did not respond to a Dispatch inquiry.
How many shootings have occurred at short-term rental properties in Columbus?
The holiday shooting is the latest of several in recent years at short-term rental properties in Columbus.
In January 2023, a man was shot and killed at a short-term rental on Oak Street near Franklin Park. A month earlier, five teenage boys were wounded in a mass shooting at a party at a short-term rental on Bellows Avenue in Franklinton.
In September 2021, a man was fatally shot at a party at a short-term rental on Gilbert Street on the Northeast Side. In January of that year, a woman was shot and killed, and two others were wounded, in a mass shooting at a rental party on Whittier Street in Merion Village.
The shootings led the Near East Area Commission to propose several restrictions on short-term rentals in the city, including limiting the number of rentals in neighborhoods; notifying neighbors of rentals; preventing tax-abated properties from being used as rentals; and imposing higher fees on owners of large-occupancy rentals.
House where July 4 shooting occurred was formerly a land bank property
The Wilson Avenue property where the shooting took place didn’t have a tax abatement, but it was bought from the Columbus Land Bank about a decade ago, according to Franklin County property records.
The land bank is supposed to be a tool to encourage affordable home ownership, Dorans said, and this does beg the question of whether these tools are being utilized instead for creating rentals.
Christine Reedy, a spokesperson for the Columbus Department of Development, which oversees the land bank program, said the Wilson Road property was sold “when short-term rentals were just gaining popularity.”
Buying a land bank property to make it a short-term rental would no longer be allowed, Reedy said.
“In recent years, most properties are reserved for ongoing affordable housing programs, such as those managed by the Central Ohio Community Land Trust, Healthy Homes, Habitat for Humanity, and other community development partners,” Reedy said.
Listings available to the general public, Reedy said, require participation in the Moderately Priced Housing or the Owner Occupant Programs, meaning they must become owner-occupied or affordable rental housing.
How some other cities regulate short-term rentals
Some Columbus suburbs ban short-term rentals, including Worthington and Upper Arlington.
Others highly restrict them, including Dublin and Bexley. Dublin allows short-term rentals for a maximum of two weeks out of the year. Bexley has significant regulations and prohibits gatherings of over 15 people.
In a 2022 report, the National League of Cities laid out policies cities could consider implementing around short-term rentals, many of which overlap with policies Columbus already employs.
The league suggests cities consider requiring rental owners, called hosts, to live at their properties; setting maximums for rentals per neighborhood; and requiring rental hosts to provide their guests with a “Good Neighbor Guide” summarizing local ordinances.
Government and politics reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How Columbus might further regulate Airbnb, Vrbo, other short-term rentals after shooting
Reporting by Jordan Laird and Jim Weiker, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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