Airbnb touts good talks with New York City mayor candidates on rental ban
Chief business officer Dave Stephenson said that he is optimistic and that politicians are starting to realise the rules have not been good for residents, who cannot supplement their incomes with short-term rentals. It has also sent hotel prices in the city soaring, he said.
Airbnb plans to spend US$10 million on getting homesharing-friendly politicians into New York City and state offices just this year. The company is pushing back on New York City's Local Law 18 regulation, which outlawed most of its short-term rental listings when it came into effect in 2023.
'Conversations are happening there, top-level conversations with the mayor and with mayoral candidates,' Stephenson said on Thursday (Jul 31). 'We are having really good conversations about the importance of supporting the communities and the economics in those communities and I think that they are realising that the law is not serving the community well.'
New York politicians have argued short-term rentals have exacerbated the city's housing affordability crisis. The measure, which wiped out more than 18,000 of Airbnb's listings in the city within a year of coming into force, was strongly supported by the powerful hospitality workers union, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council.
Stephenson, who was in Chicago to mark Airbnb's first global live music partnership with Lollapalooza festivals around the world, blamed the restrictions for rising hotel prices in New York. The average cost of a room in the city surged to a record US$439.71 in December, according to CoStar data. He also said smaller neighbourhoods are missing out on economic activity.
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'There are so many boroughs that are struggling now, because you can't stay in Brooklyn, you can't stay in Queens, you can't stay in Staten Island – there are no hotels,' he said. 'People are not able to earn income from their homes, so they're actually seeing the negative side of this.'
The company's super-PAC spent over US$1 million in the Democratic primary, targeting three candidates who did not support rolling back the short-term rental ban during the race: Zohran Mamdani, Scott Stringer and Brad Lander, Politico reported at the time.
In a separate statement, Airbnb said it's 'committed to supporting candidates who champion common-sense solutions to the affordability crisis, including empowering everyday New Yorkers, especially one- and two-family homeowners, to share their own homes as a way to afford their mortgages'.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams did not respond to a request for comment. Remaining candidates, Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, did not respond to requests for comment. Jim Walden, who is also running, declined to comment. Stephenson did not specify which candidates the company was speaking to.
Advocates for short-term rentals are trying to revise the law ahead of next summer, when New York will be one of several North American host cities for the 2026 FifaWorld Cup, an event franchise Airbnb has also partnered with.
In March, the chambers of commerce for New York City's five boroughs sent a joint letter to the city council saying the regulations have had 'devastating consequences for small businesses'.
A bill relaxing some of New York's stringent ban has been introduced in the city council, but it's a long way from viability, the bill has only a few sponsors and has yet to receive a hearing.
Cities across the US are grappling with an affordable housing crisis, and several have turned to the regulation of short-term rentals after concerns that real estate speculators are entering the market, purchasing housing and then renting it on platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo.
Chicago limits how many units within an apartment building can be used for short-term rentals and requires city approval and registration. While the city is weighing an ordinance that would allow council members to ban short-term rentals within their wards, the proposal has stalled.
'We found very specifically in Chicago that the actual residents of many of these neighbourhoods, we have civil rights people in the neighbourhoods, are actually advocating to keep Airbnbs because it's an important way for people to earn income,' he said. 'I'm really happy with where we are at in Chicago, because I think the neighbourhoods are actually starting to see the benefit and are speaking up.' BLOOMBERG
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