Santa Barbara Postpones Short-Term Rental Hearing to Oct. 6
The City Council was set to consider new licensing rules for vacation rentals on Sept. 15. The hearing is now scheduled for Oct. 6.
The Santa Barbara City Council has postponed its Sept. 15 hearing on proposed ordinances to regulate short-term vacation rentals throughout the city. The hearing will now take place on Oct. 6, according to a city notice posted Sept. 10.
The proposed rules would add new chapters to the inland and coastal zoning ordinances, creating a licensing process and operating standards for two categories of rentals. Short-term rentals are defined as rentals of a non-hosted whole residential unit. Homeshares are rentals of a portion of a residence with the owner or primary tenant present.
According to the city, the new laws are intended to favor long-term housing over short-term use, as directed by the council and laid out in Program HE-19 of the city's 2023-2031 Housing Element. The city has weighed vacation rental regulations for more than a decade, including hearings before the council, the Planning Commission and the Ordinance Committee since August 2025.
The standards are meant to give property owners, residents and visitors a clear picture of where vacation rentals are legally allowed and how they can be operated, the notice says.
The city has posted early drafts of the ordinances and an interactive map of the proposed license area at SantaBarbaraCA.gov/STROD, where residents can also sign up for status updates. Questions can be sent to STROD@SantaBarbaraCA.gov.
The October hearing lands as coastal cities across California continue to wrestle with the same tension: how to treat vacation rentals that bring visitor spending against the pressure they place on housing stock and neighborhoods.
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