Some downtown San Diego hotels used as long-term rentals by people who otherwise might be homeless are being advertised on the rental site Airbnb. That’s prompting authorities to question whether the practice shrinks the number of affordable units available to those who need them and cheats the city out of tax revenue.

A recent investigation by the San Diego Housing Commission, however, found that the hotels don’t seem to be breaking any rules.

“Our first thought was there were may be some bad actors here,” said Housing Commission President and CEO Rick Gentry last week. “We checked it out, and on the contrary, we found no evidence of bad faith at all.”

Gentry said talks with owners of some of the single-room occupancy hotels posting rooms for rent on the Airbnb site are ongoing.


Single-room occupancy hotels, more commonly known as SROs, typically rent to long-term tenants at rates much less than most hotels. Rooms usually are small, and tenants often share a bathroom with other tenants on their floor.

The issue first was raised publicly by San Diego City Councilwoman Barbara Bry on Oct. 14 during a hearing on the city’s new homeless action plan.

At the meeting, Bry said she was concerned that advertising SROs on Airbnbs, a rental site popular with tourists, would reduce the number of affordable units for some of San Diego’s most vulnerable residents.

Gentry had the same concern. He also questioned whether the practice was denying the city transient occupancy taxes usually charged to tourists but not to SRO residents. The investigation so far has found neither, he said.


From conversations with the business owners, Gentry said, the Housing Commission learned that rooms being advertised were not being denied to long-term tenants, and guests who did rent through Airbnb were paying transient occupancy taxes.

In the case of at least one of four hotels investigated, the Hawthorn Historic Inn at 2121 First Ave., the operator said renting a few rooms to travelers helped keep prices down for other long-term guests.

“Our building has 29 rooms, and we’ve turned five of them, for a lack of a better term, into Airbnb rooms,” said Michelle Parker, who operates the hotel. “Their rents help subsidize the cost of the entire building. In the three years we’ve owned it, we’re raised the price about $50 a room.”

Parker said long-term residents pay $750 to $1,200 a month, which includes utilities, and Airbnb guests pay $85 a night with a minimum stay of two nights.


Other hotels advertising rooms on Airbnb are the 42-unit Chadwick Manor at 646 A St., the 36-unit Wilsonian Hotel at 1545 Second St. and the 44-unit Hillcrest Inn at 3754 Fifth Ave.

SRO tenants may live in their units for years, but Hillcrest Inn operator Kevin Snead said 80 to 90 percent of his hotel’s business are short-term guests who stay for just a few months, often because they are in town for business reasons.

He said he’s catering to a niche market of people who need a place for a short period, but don’t want to stay in an expensive hotel or sign a lease. Other guests may be somebody who has just moved to San Diego, but needs some time to find a house to buy.

“Every once in a while, we have slow periods,” he said. “We ventured into Airbnb to fill out the gaps.”


The Hillcrest Inn is 32 years old and the Hawthorne is a 106-year-old former boarding house. Both hotel operators said their buildings have had a rocky history, but they have made significant upgrades to their property to make them nice for the neighborhood and livable for tenants.

Snead said he considers the Hillcrest Inn a hotel, but not necessarily an SRO.

“We don’t advertise as a long-term housing solution,” he said. “We’ve always been a hotel.”

Unlike many SROs, each room at the Hillcrest Inn has its own bathroom with a shower and kitchen area. Rooms in the Hawthorne also have bathrooms and refrigerators, and about 25 percent have a kitchenette. Parker said tenants in other rooms share a kitchen.


Both hotels are on the Housing Commission’s list of about 100 SROs in the city.

Gentry said there is some confusion about what qualifies as an SRO, and questions raised about the new practice of advertising on Airbnb comes at a good time. The Housing Commission is revising its policy on SROs for the first time in 25 years to address new issues about technology and the definition of SROs themselves.

Gentry said the revisions should go before the City Council next year.