Skip to content Skip to Content

New vacation rental restrictions approved in Santa Cruz County

0:00/ 0:00LIVEQuality1  AudioSubtitleSpeedNormal  
0:00/ 0:00LIVEQuality1  AudioSubtitleSpeedNormal  

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) -- Santa Cruz County approved new restrictions on short-term rentals to alleviate the county's housing crisis

The proposed changes were unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

These restrictions will also help mitigate the number of vacation homes. The total number of non-hosted rentals would be limited to 270 homes.

Those are locations where the property owner does not live on-site.

Hosted rentals with the owner living on-site would be capped at 250 homes. 

A county report shows that 665 of the 841 vacation rentals available within Santa Cruz County were unhosted.

The new rules would require rental platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo to remove illegal listings or face penalties.

Another rule would see landlords by former evicted tenants six-month rent if the property becomes a vacation home after living there.

Article Topic Follows: Top Stories
santa cruz
santa cruz county
short term rentals
Top Stories

Jump to comments ↓

Author Profile Photo

Sergio Berrueta

Sergio Berrueta has been in the news for quite awhile going from studying print media to entering the realm of broadcast.

Originally from Bell Gardens, California, in Southeast Los Angeles. Berrueta started his professional news career in Eureka as a newscast producer for North Coast News (now The Northstate’s News) at KAEF ABC 23 in 2022. He pivoted a year later in 2022 going from behind-the-scenes to in front of the camera as a multimedia journalist for Redwood News Channel 3 (KIEM/KVIQ) also in Eureka.

Berrueta studied journalism at Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt) earning his Bachelor’s Degree. Berrueta was a staff writer, page editor, social media manager and editor-in-chief of the university’s El Lenador, the only bilingual publication in all of Humboldt County.

Before moving to the North Coast, Berrueta had earned his Associate’s Degree at East Los Angeles College in 2019 after beginning his educational journey in 2012. He also was on staff for the ELAC’s publication, ELAC Campus News, having been a staff writer, page editor, and online editor.

Outside of news experience, Berrueta has also been in education as an AmeriCorps tutor in East Hollywood from 2017 to 2019 and served in a government role as a National Hometown Fellow for Lead for America with the City of Arcata in 2021.

When not focusing on news, Berrueta is an avid amateur cinephile having written about films in free time. He also writes poetry, attempting to get through a backlog of video games, enjoys visiting new places along the California Coast, and trying to keep up with the latest music and podcasts.

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION

KION 46 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.

Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here

If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.