Short-Term Rental Rules Head to Alameda Council Sept. 15
Airbnb and Vrbo hosts would have to live in the home they rent out under a proposal that also shuts out ADUs.
By The Alameda Pulse
Alameda's City Council is set to introduce a new short-term rental ordinance at its September 15, 2026 meeting, and the big change is this: if you want to rent your place out on Airbnb or Vrbo, you'll have to actually live there.
- Where: Citywide in Alameda, CA, in every residential zone
- When: The City Council takes up the ordinance September 15, 2026
- Key rule: Hosts must live in the home as their permanent residence, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) can't be rented short-term
- Who's behind it: The city's Planning Department, carrying out the Housing Element's Policy H-19
- What's next: The public can weigh in before the council votes
Who would be allowed to run a short-term rental in Alameda?
Only hosts who live in the home themselves. The draft ordinance, which would add Section 30-19 to the Alameda Municipal Code, defines a short-term rental as a room or space inside someone's permanent residence, not a whole separate unit that sits empty most of the year. That's a real shift from how some listings work today, where an owner rents out a unit they don't actually live in.
Why are ADUs left out of the new rules?
Because the city wants those units used as actual homes, not vacation rentals. Alameda has been encouraging homeowners to build ADUs, the small backyard cottages and converted garages that add housing on an existing lot, specifically to grow the city's long-term housing supply. Letting owners turn around and list them on Airbnb would work against that goal, so the ordinance excludes any ADU built under an ADU permit from the short-term rental program entirely.
What else would hosts have to do?
Get a city business license and collect the transient occupancy tax, the same hotel tax visitors already pay at Alameda's hotels, and pass it along to the city. The rules would also cap how many people can stay at once and ban large gatherings and parties, with performance standards written to keep neighbors from dealing with extra noise and traffic. Properties with a history of no-fault evictions, or that are part of subsidized affordable housing, wouldn't qualify at all.
What happens next?
The council takes up the draft short-term rental ordinance on September 15, 2026. If the council introduces it, the city's Planning Department would handle approvals itself rather than holding a hearing for every host, since the process is designed to be what the city calls ministerial, meaning staff sign off once an application meets the rules. For more on how City Hall is shaping Alameda's housing rules, see the Pulse's coverage of Alameda city government.
