Airbnb’s response to the passage of New York City bill Int. 2309

With Airbnb having seen more business in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills over the course of the pandemic, it is clear that the intent of outgoing Council Member Kallos’ bill is to hurt middle class families in the outer boroughs looking to make a little extra money and is especially puzzling given the City is trying to resuscitate tourism.

Additional information: 

• At times during the pandemic, we had more guests staying in the Catskills and Hudson Valley than in New York City. 
• In June 2020, we reached a robust information-sharing agreement with New York City, and subsequently began complying with the City’s short-term rental data reporting law, which regularly provides the City with the insights it needs to effectively regulate short-term rentals.
• According to a recent survey of over 150 Hosts in our New York City Host community, more than half identified as non-white. Of the respondents who identified as non-white, 63 percent had a listing outside of Manhattan and 85 percent stated that the income earned on Airbnb helped them stay in their homes¹. 
  • Arva Rice, President & CEO of the New York Urban League recently said: “Over the past nearly two years, Black, Brown and minority communities were hit hardest by the pandemic. And as the world attempts to get back to normal, the city and state should be doing everything possible to ensure an equitable economic recovery. Responsible home sharing is about New Yorkers finding their own entrepreneurial power to provide for themselves and their families, and that’s how we strengthen our community.”
• Sixty-six percent of Airbnb Hosts in New York City say they rely on guest revenue to stay in their homes and 38 percent of Hosts say that sharing their homes over the past year has helped them avoid eviction and foreclosure².
• Airbnb guests in New York City say 50 percent of their spending occurs in the neighborhood where their listing is located. 
• According to a study by Oxford Economics, Airbnb guests supported nearly 17,000 jobs in New York City in 2019. 
• Nearly 15 percent of NYC Hosts work in education or health care, 10 percent work in retail, trade, transportation and utilities, 8 percent work in arts, entertainment and recreation and 5 percent work in hospitality and food services.
• Our NYC Host community, much of which relies on income from home sharing to stay in their homes, has spoken out with great concern about this bill – see here, here, and here. 
• According to a recent poll by the Travel Technology Association, over 60 percent of travelers would be less inclined to visit a city if short-term rentals were limited and/or not an option.
• This new study, by some of the same co-authors that frequently write about the impact of Airbnb on housing, shows that short-term rentals incentivize residential investments (like building Accessory Dwelling Units or doing renovations) and that STR regulation reduces these types of investments and cities’ ability to benefit from higher tax revenue that could be used to address affordable housing.
• In a recent Op-Ed, Colvin Grannum of the Bed-Stuy Restoration said it best; “Responsible home sharing represents a tremendous opportunity for the entire city. [Airbnb] could bring in $130 million each year once tourism returns — $75 million in New York City alone. That is much-need tax revenue to our local government to fund our schools, infrastructure, and more.”
• In another recent Op-Ed, Howard Husock, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, argued that a recent proposal to tax Airbnb rentals to help support the Metropolitan Transit Authority makes sense, but first the City should legalize short-term rentals, “App-based short-term rental services have brought roomer and boarder rentals into the 21st century. They deserve full legal recognition — in exchange for which they should pay taxes.”