Editor’s Note:
This article is part of Big Easy Magazine’s ongoing investigation into housing, displacement, and real estate speculation in New Orleans. We’ve previously explored the rise of out-of-state ownership and shell LLCs in “Who Owns New Orleans Now? (Part 2)”, and the role corporate operators play in reshaping neighborhoods. Our latest reporting turns to short-term rentals—where profit and policy collide, and enforcement often fails to keep pace.
When the New Orleans City Council first passed a moratorium on new commercial short-term rental (STR) licenses in June 2023, the city claimed it was taking a hard stance against the commodification of housing. But nearly two years later, and despite a new wave of reforms passed in April 2025, the reality on the ground tells a different story.
Out-of-state corporations like Hosteeva and Sonder continue to operate commercial STRs across the city, using legal loopholes and license renewals to maintain their grip on the housing market. At the same time, illegal STRs are flourishing in plain sight—unchecked, unpermitted, and often operating out of properties where short-term rentals are now expressly prohibited.
Just weeks ago, the Council approved new ordinances strengthening enforcement and attempting to crack down on violations.
Despite the city’s intensified efforts, illegal STRs remain widespread. Data from early 2025 reveals over 7,000 active Airbnb listings in New Orleans, while only about 1,350 have valid non-commercial STR licenses. This gap suggests that thousands of properties continue to operate without authorization—undermining enforcement, distorting housing supply, and eroding public confidence in the city’s regulatory framework.
The updated regulations include higher fines, clearer definitions of what constitutes a “commercial” STR, and an expanded enforcement mechanism meant to close the gap between the city’s laws and the reality of widespread noncompliance. But even now, in May 2025, city records show dozens of new permits still being issued or renewed to corporate entities, and widespread anecdotal evidence suggests many STRs continue to operate illegally, often listed under fake host names or LLCs designed to evade detection.
In Mid-City, at 320 North Cortez Street, four units are operated as STRs by Hosteeva, Inc.—a Delaware-based firm with an office in Metairie. All four licenses were renewed in July 2024, despite the fact that the moratorium had already been in place for over a year. These units are located in a mixed-use zone, which allows them to technically qualify under current rules, but the surrounding area is largely residential in feel and function. This is not an isolated case; it’s part of a larger pattern.
Across the Lower Garden District, Uptown, and the Marigny, new permit records show STRs being renewed or transferred among LLCs without meaningful oversight. Meanwhile, local homeowners who try to obtain residential STR licenses are subject to strict requirements, including homestead exemption, full-time residency, and a maximum of one license per lot. The system effectively punishes locals while rewarding well-resourced corporate actors who know how to navigate the fine print.
Sonder Hospitality USA Inc., another Delaware-registered company headquartered in San Francisco, continues to operate STRs at more than 30 properties across the city. According to public records, Sonder’s name appears on licenses for buildings on Girod, Gravier, Magazine, and Constance streets. The company has also been tied to multi-unit STR operations in zoning overlays originally intended for light commercial or hospitality use.
The company’s long-standing relationship with New Orleans city government has not gone unnoticed. In a 2020 exposé, Big Easy Magazine reported that a Sonder executive had been appointed to oversee the city’s STR enforcement operations. He allegedly responded to criticism by asking, “Who’s going to stop me?” before being fired following a DUI arrest. That story helped reveal the extent to which corporate STR interests had infiltrated regulatory frameworks meant to rein them in.
Even with the latest April 2025 reforms in place, the enforcement challenge remains formidable. The City Council has granted more funding to the STR enforcement team and implemented a stricter reporting mechanism, but illegal STRs still operate openly in neighborhoods like Tremé and Bywater—often with multiple listings registered to the same operator under different names. Reports of entire homes being rented out with no visible permits, signage, or owner presence are widespread.
This growing gap between regulation and reality is not just a legal problem—it’s an economic and social one.
How Corporate STRs Inflate Housing Prices
Every residential unit that becomes a short-term rental removes a home from the long-term housing market. That restriction in supply—particularly in high-demand neighborhoods like Mid-City and the Marigny—causes prices to rise for everyone else. Families are forced to compete not just with each other, but with international investors who can pay in cash, outbid local buyers, and transform homes into nightly profit centers.
According to Inside Airbnb, the majority of STR listings in New Orleans are run by hosts with multiple properties—clear evidence of commercial-scale operators. A growing body of research, including findings from the Urban Institute, confirms that short-term rentals increase both rents and home prices, especially in cities with limited housing stock.
The effects are particularly acute in historically Black neighborhoods where cultural legacy and generational wealth are being eroded by real estate speculation. Blocks that once held families are now occupied by rotating guests. Local schools lose students. Neighborhood identity disappears. And residents who want to live, work, and raise families here are pushed further to the margins.
The Path Forward
The April 2025 reforms are a step in the right direction, but they won’t matter if corporate STRs remain insulated by loopholes and if illegal operations continue without meaningful consequence. The city must stop allowing renewals for out-of-state corporations and instead prioritize housing that serves actual residents. Enforcement teams need the authority to investigate shell LLCs and cross-check listings with permit records. Every license granted should be accompanied by real accountability.
The question we face is not whether short-term rentals should exist. It’s who they should serve. Right now, New Orleans STR policy protects the profits of distant corporations more than the stability of its people.
If we want our neighborhoods to remain neighborhoods and not turn into privatized hotels with neighborhood names, then it’s time to make housing for people and not for portfolios.
The fight over short-term rentals reveals something bigger—how city policies, however well-intentioned, too often bend toward wealth and outside interests. It’s part of a deeper pattern where the people who built New Orleans are pushed aside, while profits and property flow to those who never planned to stay.
This is the first article I’ve read that truly gets to the heart of the problem. There were a couple of issues that were omitted here though. First, the loophole of these corporations buying up buildings, applying for one hotel license, and turning those buildings into 100 STRs. Additionally, the city reneged on its commitments at the Brown’s Dairy site and issued hundreds of STR permits there when it was supposed to be affordable housing.