New York City is restricting Airbnb
It won’t do much to bring down housing costs
“IT’S MY HOUSE,” says Gia Sharp, a host on Airbnb, a rental platform. “I’ve worked really hard to buy it. So the thought that someone else can tell me what I can do with my house is a little crazy.” But a law which went into effect on September 5th caused Ms Sharp’s Brooklyn listing, and thousands more, to disappear from Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms.
“It took a long time for New York City to get its hands around Airbnb,” says Sean Hennessey, of New York University’s Jonathan Tisch Centre of Hospitality. Years after many cities (including Boston, Paris, San Francisco and Sydney) began implementing laws limiting rental days and slapping fines on violators, the Big Apple is following suit. A new municipal law requires hosts of short-term rentals of less than 30 days to register with New York City.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Blocked bookings”
From the September 9th 2023 edition
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