The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved new limits on short-term rentals throughout the county on Tuesday, responding to growing concerns that the region was losing housing to platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo.
The new rules limit the number of non-hosted short-term rentals — in which the owner does not live on the property — to 270 throughout the county. Previous rules did not limit the number of non-hosted rentals.
The supervisors also placed more of an onus on rental platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo to prohibit unpermitted rentals from appearing on their sites. The new law requires the platforms to remove unpermitted rentals from its site within 10 days of receiving notice from the county.
The ordinance also limits one short-term rental permit per property owner or entity, which shields against the concern that corporations are coming into Santa Cruz County neighborhoods and buying up multiple properties to rent out.
Some neighborhoods, however, are exempt from these limits. The Live Oak Designated Area, the Seacliff/Aptos/La Selva Beach Designated Area and the Davenport/Swanton Designated Area will maintain their own limits outside the countywide caps, which are largely coastal swaths of the named communities.
The ordinance also creates a subcommittee that will meet to continually look at how to improve rules around short-term rentals.
“Today is a milestone in us advancing and making meaningful changes to this policy,” District 3 Supervisor Justin Cummings said before casting his vote in support.
-Kevin Painchaud, Lookout Santa Cruz, August 20, 2025
