By Iris Craige, Assistant Director of Policy and Research

November 9, 2026

Who gets to enjoy Santa Monica’s coastline, and at whose expense? That’s the question facing the California Coastal Commission as it considers Santa Monica’s permit application for short-term rentals (STRs) within the city’s Coastal Zone.

Santa Monica’s Coastal Zone is approximately 1.5 square miles and contains the publicly owned shoreline and beach as well as some urbanized inland areas. It reaches up to Fourth Street north of Pico Boulevard and Lincoln Boulevard south of Pico. 

In 2015, Santa Monica adopted a Home-Sharing Ordinance that applies to STRs throughout the city. It lets residents rent rooms in their primary homes, but prohibits unhosted, whole-home vacation rentals. But the law unintentionally triggered an issue with the California Coastal Commission, whose guidance says regulating STRs in the Coastal Zone changes the intensity of land use and access to the shoreline, making it “development” under the Coastal Act. The commission says regulations that apply to the Coastal Zone must be addressed through a certified Local Coastal Program or authorized by a Coastal Development Permit. Because Santa Monica does not yet have a certified Local Coastal Program, the city has applied to the commission for a permit covering its hosted-only rules in the Coastal Zone.

Why Now?

Recent changes to STR law in Pacifica, California, have heightened concern about how the Coastal Commission may handle Santa Monica’s application. Opponents of Pacifica’s STR restrictions argued that limits on unhosted rentals violated the Coastal Act by restricting visitor access. In August 2026, the commission removed Pacifica’s primary-residence requirement and allowed unhosted rentals for up to 120 days a year, twice the limit Pacifica had proposed. That decision applies to Pacifica, not Santa Monica, but it shows how the commission might weaken local protections.

With Santa Monica’s permit now before the Coastal Commission, SAJE is urging approval without amendments that could allow unhosted, whole-home rentals in the Coastal Zone.

Protecting Housing While Providing Lower-Cost Visitor Accommodations

The California Coastal Act directs the Coastal Commission to encourage lower-cost visitor accommodations. In Pacifica, commission staff argued that limits on unhosted rentals could reduce access for underserved inland communities, saying those effects were “amplified” through an environmental justice lens. However, facts on the ground in Santa Monica points to an alternative way to support visitor access. Data pulled by Better Neighbors LA show that Santa Monica’s hosted-only approach advances low-cost accommodations while protecting housing: registered homes in the Coastal Zone average approximately $218 per night, compared to an average of $333 for a hotel room. Hosted home-sharing can provide ample low-cost access without opening the door to unhosted, whole-home vacation rentals. 

Santa Monica also has substantial existing visitor accommodations. Better Neighbors LA estimates a 25% hotel vacancy rate, and an 84% vacancy rate among registered short-term rentals in the Coastal Zone, raising questions about whether additional whole-home rentals are even needed to accommodate visitors.

Housing Preservation Is Part of Coastal Access

Coastal access is also about who can afford to live near the coast. The Coastal Commission’s Environmental Justice Policy recognizes that discriminatory housing policies and the loss of affordable neighborhoods have pushed low-income Californians and communities of color farther from the coast.

Santa Monica’s history shows how land-use decisions have shaped who gets to live near the coast. The city cleared the Black Belmar Triangle neighborhood for the Civic Auditorium, and construction of the 10 Freeway displaced about 600 families from Pico, including many African American and Mexican American families. Santa Monica has apologized for these efforts and created a Right to Return program to help displaced families and their descendants come back. But returning depends on homes being available for residents to return to. If the California Coastal Commission allows unhosted short-term rentals in Santa Monica’s Coastal Zone, properties will be snapped up to be used as vacation rentals for tourists and not homes for residents. instead. This would make it even harder for communities of color already pushed out of Santa Monica to return.

Santa Monica must show it has zoning capacity for 8,895 homes by 2029, 69% of them affordable. Relaxing short-term rental rules in the Coastal Zone will hinder progress. SAJE urges the Coastal Commission to approve the city’s permit without amendments, protecting the existing hosted-only rules.