S.F. supes opt to give Airbnb law a chance to work

A few audience members hold signs after the vote, as the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to pass the ordinance sponsored by Supervisor Mark Farrell and Mayor Ed Lee to regulate Airbnb and other short term rental services in San Francisco, Calif., on Tues. July 14, 2015. less A few audience members hold signs after the vote, as the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to pass the ordinance sponsored by Supervisor Mark Farrell and Mayor Ed Lee to regulate Airbnb and other short ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close S.F. supes opt to give Airbnb law a chance to work 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

A divided Board of Supervisors rejected efforts on Tuesday to impose a hard cap on the use of short-term rentals through companies such as Airbnb, opting instead to try to enforce the existing law.

In two 6-5 votes, the board rejected legislation by Supervisor David Campos and passed watered-down legislation by Supervisor Mark Farrell, underscoring once again the philosophical divide about whether short-term rentals exacerbate the city’s housing shortage or allow people to stay in their homes by renting out spare rooms.

Despite Tuesday’s votes, the debate over short-term rentals will continue, as an initiative to limit their use to 75 days a year has qualified for the November ballot.

“I support home sharing. It has a place in San Francisco. But there has to be limits,” said Campos, who criticized the votes. “Left unregulated, this industry will continue to exacerbate the housing crisis we are facing by incentivizing taking housing off the market.”

Farrell countered, “We need to avoid delivering heavy-handed regulations and requirements.”

Farrell prevailed on Tuesday, although with significant concessions to his original legislation, which had included a 120-day hard cap on all short-term rentals. But several of his moderate allies on the board opposed the cap, and he ultimately abandoned it.

The failed effort to impose a cap reflects a political miscalculation by Farrell and Mayor Ed Lee, who helped craft the initial proposal, as they believed that a majority of the supervisors would line up behind it.

The amended legislation instead is aimed at better enforcement of a law enacted in February that limits people from renting out entire homes to 90 days a year, and places no limits on people renting out rooms in homes they occupy.

It will create a new Office of Short Term Rental Administration and Enforcement — a six-person, one-stop shop to streamline host registrations and investigate violations. It will also require short-term rental hosts to make quarterly reporting requirements about how many days they rent out rooms or houses and limits the short-term vacation rental of units if there has been an Ellis Act eviction within the past five years.

The board rejected legislation by Campos that would have capped rentals at 60 days per year, given private citizens the right to sue landlords who exceed that limit and required short-term rental companies to give quarterly reports on who is renting out space.

The failed attempt by both Campos and Farrell to impose a hard cap on short-term rentals reflects a desire by several supervisors to give the existing regulations a chance to work.

“It has been a scant half year since that ordinance came into effect,” said Supervisor Julie Christensen. “Anybody who has started a business ... knows it takes a while to establish the process and put the staff in place.”

Voting against Farrell’s legislation were Campos, Eric Mar, Jane Kim, John Avalos and Norman Yee. Voting against Campos’ were Farrell, Christensen, London Breed, Malia Cohen, Katy Tang and Scott Wiener.

Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen