Pittsburgh’s effort to regulate short-term rentals is moving toward a key round of hearings and votes in September and October, with city officials weighing rules that would limit the growth of some investor-owned rentals while allowing homeowners to keep renting rooms or accessory units on their properties.
The legislative package now under consideration includes a zoning bill and a licensing bill. Paired together, the measures would stop current short-term rental operators from expanding the number of units they own and run, according to City Councilor Deb Gross. At the same time, the bills would encourage homeowners to rent out accessory dwelling units or rooms in their primary homes.
"People operating as scattered-site hotels – this bill makes this much harder to do, and rightfully so", she said in an interview.
What the bills would do
Under the zoning proposal, the city would draw a distinction between two kinds of short-term rentals: unoccupied single-dwelling rental units with off-site owners, and owner-occupied rentals, including homes where an owner rents a room or an accessory dwelling unit.
If adopted, the zoning bill would block new off-site-owner short-term rentals from being established in residential areas zoned for single-family homes, duplexes or triplexes. Existing operators in those zones could be grandfathered in if they apply for a new certificate of occupancy showing the property was already being used that way.
The proposal would still allow short-term rentals with off-site owners by right in areas mostly along Pittsburgh’s riverfronts.
The separate licensing bill would require a valid certificate of occupancy before a license could be issued. It would also require owners to identify a local operator and agree to rent only to guests who are at least 18 years old.
Pittsburgh’s City Planning Commission is set to hold a hearing on the zoning bill on Sept. 8. City Council expects a tentative committee vote on the licensing bill on Oct. 21.
sbb-itb-103bddb
Operators push back on zoning limits
Short-term rental owners and operators said they support regulation, especially licensing rules, but oppose using zoning changes to curb rentals.
"We’re not against regulation, but you’re trying to regulate something you don’t even understand", said Chad Wise, the founder of the short-term rental property management company HostWise Co.
Gross, who represents Highland Park, told the Planning Commission that some streets in her district are lined with keypad-accessible homes that signal short-term rental use.
"We are just seeing more and more housing owned by short-term-rental operators and being removed as housing" for residents, she said.
City Zoning Administrator Carolyn Ristau said the zoning bill would also bar all types of short-term rentals from being used for "public assembly, recreational entertainment or hospitality activities."
A small share of housing, but clustered in some areas
Allegheny County had roughly 3,800 available short-term rental properties as of June 2026, according to AirDNA, a data and analytics firm focused on the short-term rental industry. About 80% of those listings were for entire homes, said Bram Gallagher, AirDNA’s director of economics and forecasting.
The county has roughly 614,000 housing units, meaning short-term rentals account for less than 1% of the region’s total housing stock. But the market is concentrated in certain areas. One Pittsburgh submarket that includes Bloomfield, Garfield, East Liberty and Larimer holds 14% of the county’s short-term rentals. Another submarket stretching from Pittsburgh’s North Side to Sewickley accounts for roughly 18% of the county total.
About 26% of short-term rentals in the county are professionally managed, according to Gallagher. That includes companies responsible for managing at least 21 properties.
At any given time during the year, roughly half of all short-term rentals in the region are vacant.
Safety concerns and economic arguments
The debate has also been shaped by violence tied to some properties. Since 2022, two fatal shootings have occurred at Airbnbs in East Allegheny. The source article also noted that large gatherings have turned fatal at rentals in Philadelphia and the Poconos.
In Harrisburg, a bill co-sponsored by state Rep. Lindsay Powell, D-Troy Hill, was introduced earlier this year after the New Year’s Eve shooting in East Allegheny. The proposal would create statewide safety standards short-term rental operators.
Supporters of the industry say the market also sustains jobs and tourism-related business. Ellie Harward said she began renting one of two side-by-side North Side townhomes she bought in 2017 after mortgage payments became difficult to manage. She said she has worked with two people who help clean and landscape the property.
Corey Diethorn, co-owner of Megaclean PGH, said the company manages roughly 100 short-term rentals in the Pittsburgh region and pays roughly $80,000 in wages each month, split across 10 employees and several subcontractors.
"It’s not just like short-term rentals are owned by these companies who are making all this money – it’s not that. There’s a whole ecosystem of cleaners, maintenance, landscapers, everything", Diethorn said.
Wise said Pittsburgh is "a long way from being a tourist mecca", but that there are also "a lot of properties that can pay for themselves as short-term rentals, but not long-term rentals."
The 2026 NFL Draft provided a snapshot of demand: roughly 75% of all available rentals were booked for the first night of the three-day event, and rates stayed above 50% through Saturday.
A rule that could hit smaller hosts
Harward said the short-term rental market has "gotten much more corporate." But she said one provision in the licensing bill – requiring owners to live within 25 miles of the city – could threaten her business. She recently got married and moved well outside the city with her husband, and now rents both North Side townhomes on the platform.
"It’s a scary possibility", she said.
With the zoning hearing set for Sept. 8 and the licensing bill headed toward an Oct. 21 committee vote, Pittsburgh’s long-running debate over how to control short-term rentals without shutting down smaller operators is entering its next phase.