On 26 September the Concejo de Medellín, the city council, held its first public session on Proyecto de Acuerdo 104 of 2026, a mid-term revision of the city's land-use plan. The draft reclassifies tourist housing as a lodging use and concentrates it in mixed zones and corridors near metro stations. Platforms and host groups read it as permitting short lets outright in 3.4% of the city and restricting them in 72%; planning director Luz Ángela González disputes that reading.
"Lobby, but do it in front of the public," Mayor Federico Gutiérrez told the industry on 28 September1. City figures released the day before show registered tourist homes rising from 521 in 2019 to 8,322 in 2026, against 863 hotels. Inspectors suspended 105 tourist homes after 408 inspections2.
In August the city published a checklist telling hosts which papers they need. Acuerdo 104 goes further and decides where they may trade at all, so a complete file would no longer settle whether a flat can be let.
Separately, Colombia's Foreign Ministry told holders of old permanent-resident visas on 15 September to transfer them to the current regime by 31 October3. A resident still on an old visa has weeks, not months, to act.
