The city of Astoria will require licenses for Airbnb-type vacation rentals.

The thorny topics of Astoria’s housing shortage and homestay lodging weren’t on the Astoria City Council agenda, but they came up at Tuesday’s meeting nonetheless.

The council, whose goal is to create housing Astorians can afford, has lately debated whether to rein in homestay lodging — temporary lodging that caters to out-of-towners — to free up units for working residents.

Councilors Cindy Price and Zetty Nemlowill have expressed interest in limiting Astoria’s future rentals in residential zones to tenants staying 30 days or longer. They argue that, with so little housing on offer, city policy governing the use of spare rooms and other living quarters should favor locals who need them over tourists who can pay more.

In addition, the councilors wonder if homestay lodging — such as Airbnb-style operations — is undercutting Astoria’s bed-and-breakfasts.

Loretta Maxwell, assistant manager of Grandview Bed & Breakfast in Astoria, said Tuesday that her reservations have dwindled over the past three years, as the homestay lodging industry has taken root.

However, Dwight Caswell, who runs an Airbnb out of a spare room, said his operation doesn’t threaten the town’s bed-and-breakfasts because it attracts people who can’t afford traditional B&Bs, motels and hotels.

“I’m competing with campgrounds,” he said.

Caswell believes Airbnb sites like his do not erode permanent housing options, because, in many cases, renting the space on a monthly basis isn’t feasible or desirable for the property owner.

“We would never consider renting that for long-term housing. We rent it when it’s convenient for us to do that because, otherwise — on those rare occasions when I snore — my wife wouldn’t have any place to go to,” he said.

Caswell, a freelance writer for Coast Weekend, said one of his selling points is that he can recommend restaurants, breweries and other attractions to his guests.

“I am bringing people to this town, and having them spend money here that they wouldn’t otherwise spend,” he said, “and I don’t know what’s bad about that.”

Diana Bartolotta, who manages an Uppertown house and has hosted through Airbnb, said that she, like Caswell, helps her short-term guests plan their stay, even equipping them with maps from the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce.

The council, she said, should not frame the housing issue as “long-term landlords versus the true B&Bs versus the Airbnbs, because we all serve a different function,” she said.

“I think Airbnb hosts might not speak up, but somehow we’re being vilified,” she added. “And we, I think, as a community, can find some solutions to this without pitting people against each other.”

Insisting that “it’s not a matter of pitting anyone against anyone,” Price said more data must be gathered on homestay lodging for the City Council to begin crafting policy.

Questions that must be answered, she said, include: How many homestays currently exist in town? What amenities do they provide? Do they have a measurable impact on hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts?

“Making policy that will have long-term effects on a city’s livability, its character, its economy, based on anecdote and lobbying of people who have a financial interest — or would like to have a financial interest — in a particular matter, just is not sensible,” Price said. “And, at this time, we simply don’t have very much data about the number of homestays that are out there.”

Nemlowill, who said she worries that Astoria will lose its year-round community, believes that reforming the city’s homestay lodging rules “could be the single biggest way that we could protect the character of our city into the future.”

City Councilor Bruce Jones said that, while he agrees with Price and Nemlowill on what the end result should be — namely, to create housing for permanent residents and preserve the community’s character — “I don’t see evidence that homestays are the primary culprit and the problem to be attacked here.”

An outright ban on future homestays is “like taking a chainsaw to a problem that we might be able to address with pruning saws,” he said. “Or, at least, I’d rather try the pruning saws first.”

For example, Jones suggested, the city could cap the number of homestay permits allowed, while disincentivizing property owners from going the homestay route if they could set up a long-term rental by requiring them to obtain a permit with a hefty fee.