Lisa McChristian planned to wait until the fireworks ended, then put the dogs out one last time before going to bed in the opening hour of New Year’s Day.
The dogs would have to wait until morning, though, because of the short-term rental down the block.
“The fireworks had just ended, and I heard the boom, boom, boom, then a pause and three more shots,” McChristian recounted last week.
Pittsburgh Bureau of Police reports say a woman was shot in the leg in the early morning on Constance Street in East Allegheny. Neighbors, including the McChristians, say the victim was a resident of the house across the street from two adjacent short-term rentals, and add that she has moved out. The victim’s house shows at least half a dozen holes in the siding and front window.
“It’s just sad,” said McChristian.
Legislation to regulate short-term rentals in the City of Pittsburgh has gained steam since the New Year’s shooting, which happened around five blocks from the Tripoli Street scene of a double fatal shooting at an Airbnb in 2022.
After the New Year’s shooting, City Councilor Deb Gross reintroduced bills she pursued unsuccessfully last year, which would have the city regulate, register and sometimes inspect Airbnbs, VRBOs and other vacation units. While she had no cosponsors last year, councilors Anthony Coghill and Bobby Wilson have signed on this time.
“Now we have seen repeated problems, but even when there isn’t a shooting, there’s still [the fact that] these short- term rentals, even well-run ones, are more widespread,” Gross told Pittsburgh’s Public Source.
Rentals owner supports regulation
The short-term rentals on Constance Street are owned by Tyche Properties, a Bloomfield-based real estate firm. Jerome Yoders, one of the co-owners of Tyche, said his firm is in favor of city regulation.
“There are a lot of people who run very poorly managed Airbnbs,” he told Pittsburgh’s Public Source. “They can make a property in the area dangerous. They can also make it an eyesore. This is something we never wanted.”
He said his intent was to improve, rent long-term and eventually sell the Constance Street properties. But after thorough renovation, they sat on the market. Tyche had little choice but to list them on short-term rental sites to recoup costs.
Tyche, he said, was one of the first area firms to use Airbnb extensively, but has in recent years been shifting away from that model, toward traditional rentals and sales.
“In my opinion, Airbnb does have to do a better job vetting their tenants, their guests,” Yoders said. The company provides operators like him with the names of would-be guests, a list of states they’ve rented in before and the ratings they’ve received from other operators, leaving property owners with nothing else to go on before agreeing to accept the reservation.
The New Year’s renter “had multiple reviews that were all five stars,” Yoders said. “There was zero indication that this person would have a party. … We as a business don’t want parties at any Airbnb. It’s incredibly cost-ineffective” due to damage.
In response to questions from Public Source, Airbnb wrote that “fewer than 0.06% of reservations nationwide result[ed] in a party allegation in 2024” and gun violence during reservations is “extremely rare.” When it occurs, the company assists local law enforcement, a company spokesperson said.
Yoders said he supports “whatever we can do to prevent a tragedy like this from happening. … I understand the community being upset.”
Another short-term rental owner said he favors regulation of corporate and out-of-town owners, but added that the public conversation around short-term rentals tends to downplay the economic contributions of responsible hosts.
Dennis Vodzak said he’s racked up more than 1,700 positive reviews from guests at the Historic Day House, a multi-unit property in the Mexican War Streets in which he lives and rents suites through Airbnb.
Policymakers are “not talking about what short-term guests bring to the city, and they’re not talking about the revenue that comes in from these out-of-town guests,” lured by “concerts, Steelers games, family birthdays.”
Vodzak also stressed that platforms such as Airbnb have screening tools and other rules that allow responsible owners to reduce risks and disruptions. Hotels, he said, lack these and yet they draw less scrutiny.
“There does have to be regulation but they have to be careful about how they do that,” he said.
License, regulate and inspect
Gross said she’s been looking for a strategy to curb short-term rentals for around a decade, after they started cropping up in Lawrenceville. Since then, the market has changed.
“There’s a difference between someone who is operating out of their home versus someone who is buying lots of properties and operating them as almost a scattered site hotel. There should be different paths for that,” she said.
Gross’ legislation would compel short-term rental owners or operators to:
- Get licenses and disclose the number of bedrooms and maximum occupants for each unit
- Stay current on property taxes
- Pledge not to rent to anyone younger than 18 except if accompanied by a parent or guardian
- Provide the name, address and phone number of a person responsible for the property’s operations, who must be located with 25 miles of the property
- Limit stays to 28 consecutive days
- Maintain a daily registry of guests.
A city license officer would be able to inspect short-term rentals and suspend or revoke licenses for violations of operating standards or permit requirements, and for disruptive activities.
The fine for operating a short-term rental without a valid license could reach $500 per unit per month.
No building could contain more than five short-term rentals, and buildings with 20 or fewer units could only have two.
Airbnb’s spokesperson said the company doesn’t oppose “fair, enforceable rules that help ensure guests, hosts and neighbors can quickly and appropriately address nuisance and safety concerns without shutting out responsible Pittsburgh residents who rely on hosting to make ends meet.”
The legislation is split into two bills, a zoning ordinance that must first go before the City Planning, and a permitting ordinance that could return to council’s table on Feb. 11.
“This legislation, with the timing of it, is unlikely to be effectuated before the NFL Draft,” said Gross. The draft could bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to Pittsburgh from April 23 to 25, and the prices for short-term rentals are expected to soar.
“Zoning legislation always moves very slowly, intentionally,” she said.
Strong measures in suburbs
Crafton’s recently overhauled zoning code includes a total restriction on short-term rentals in its residential zones.
Community and Economic Development Director Mike Tedesco said regulating Airbnbs was an early priority of the administration that found strong resident support through a lengthy public engagement process.
“It creates too much for Crafton’s residential areas in terms of parking challenges,” Tedesco said of short-term rentals, adding that some result in “public nuisances.”
Having provisions for short-term rentals gives the borough new power over a previously unregulated industry, Tedesco added. “We had a hard time doing code enforcement on them because we didn’t have anything in the ordinance.”
The ban in residential zones doesn’t extend to the borough’s new commercial zone, which, Tedesco said, includes some traditional residences that could be used as short-term rentals.
“It doesn’t seem like a good idea to outright ban them if you’re interested in any sort of commerce in your community,” he said.
‘Well-fed raccoons’
The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is continuing to investigate the Constance Street shooting and interview witnesses, but “there has not been a lot of cooperation,” according to a spokesperson, who urged that anyone with information call 412-323-7161.
Neighbors on Constance said the shooting is just the most dramatic downside to the presence of the two short-term rentals, plus several more within a block or two.
One of the Tyche rentals drew a 911 call in March for what county records call a “drugs complaint.” The other was the subject of Dec. 20 emergency calls for what the records call a burglary or home invasion.
McChristian, an IT professional, said she wasn’t the 911 caller, but remembers that pre-Christmas 2 a.m. event. “They were parked in front of the house, really loud and obnoxious, piling in the car,” she said.
Visitors often put the trash out on the wrong day, she added, and it ends up everywhere. “Every now and again, you’ll see a well-fed raccoon,” added her husband, Mack McChristian.
Jodi Rafalko has lived on the same block as the short-term rentals, though across the street, since 2023. She hoped to find community with neighbors, and has made some friends. But she called the New Year’s shots “loud and scary.”
She said she loves the neighborhood’s proximity to Downtown and the North Shore but is “disappointed” due to the shooting, the “nuisance short-term rental” properties and the departure from the street of the woman who was shot, leaving even fewer actual neighbors.
William Thornton said that in December, he witnessed public urination and what he believed was domestic violence, then heard the shooting. “Like 50 years I’ve been here and I ain’t moving nowhere,” the retired construction worker said. He did, however, sign a petition circulated by the Community Alliance of Spring Garden — East Deutschtown in favor of regulation of short-term rentals.
Said Yoders: “I understand the frustration, and believe you me, I’m right there with them.”
Rich Lord is the managing editor at Pittsburgh’s Public Source and can be reached at rich@publicsource.org.
Jamie Wiggan is Pittsburgh Public Source’s deputy editor and can be reached at jamie @publicsource.org.
Charlie Wolfson contributed.
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