An update about our community in New Orleans
For the better part of the last decade, we have worked alongside hosts to advocate for fair, balanced short-term rental regulations in New Orleans. In fact, home sharing in New Orleans is a tradition dating back to the 1800s, and for the past 15 years, some New Orleans homeowners have facilitated this tradition of hospitality through Airbnb’s trusted platform.
Despite this longstanding tradition, City leaders have imposed a series of escalating restrictions on short-term rentals, including capping short-term rentals to one per four-sided block, requiring hosts to enter a lottery for permits, and requiring home sharing platforms to monitor hosts’ registration status and share hosts’ personally identifiable information. We know that many of these restrictions are driven by the hotel industry, whose executives have admitted to trying to “capture as close to 100% of [consumers’] travel wallet as possible” and have benefitted from rising hotel prices in cities with restrictive short-term rental regulations.
Because of this, Airbnb joined several hosts today in filing a lawsuit against the City of New Orleans regarding its short-term rental regulations. The lawsuit makes clear that the City’s regulations violate the long-standing rights of homeowners to lease all or part of their home—whether for a short or long period of time—that are rooted in the US and Louisiana Constitutions.
New Orleans’ restrictions jeopardize the livelihood of hosts who rely on home sharing to make ends meet. According to a 2023 survey of hosts in New Orleans, over 80 percent say hosting on Airbnb allows them to meet rising costs of living, and more than 60 percent confirm hosting on Airbnb has helped them stay in their home. The City’s regulations also reduce accommodations for guests and hurt the local economy. In 2023 alone, Airbnb contributed over $821 million to the Louisiana economy, supporting approximately 11,100 jobs and generating $270 million in total tax revenue across the state, including in New Orleans.
What’s more, short-term rentals offer a critical source of flexible, emergency housing during natural disasters. Following the wildfires in Los Angeles, for example, Airbnb.org, a nonprofit founded by Airbnb, leveraged Airbnb’s network of hosts and listings to provide free, temporary housing to more than 17,000 people displaced by the fires. By restricting short-term rentals, New Orleans City Council reduces the supply of emergency housing available during natural disasters.
Over the years, we have promoted responsible hosting in accordance with local regulations, including by giving city staff access to Airbnb’s City Portal since 2020 to help them enforce their short-term rental rules. Even so, the City has struggled with poor coordination between City departments and administrative challenges around short-term rentals.
Importantly, New Orleans’ regulations do not address the City’s core housing challenges where issues like rising insurance costs have increased the price of homeownership. In fact, after New York City implemented strict regulations removing thousands of short-term rentals, rents still increased by 3.4 percent during the first 11 months of the law and vacancy rates remained unchanged. Like in New Orleans, the only beneficiaries of New York City’s regulations have been hotels, which saw prices rise by 7.4 percent over the past year.
We have a strong track record of working with governments around the world to establish fair rules that consider the unique goals of each community. Today’s filing comes only after exhausting all available paths toward sensible solutions and stems from our commitment to protecting the rights of hosts to responsibly share their home.