The cover page of the report jointly issued by Housing Conservation Coordinators Inc. and MFY Legal Services Inc. Image credit: BJH Advisors LLC
The report found that the pervasive use of Airbnb in New York City is likely the indirect causation of incredibly low residential vacancy rates and rising rental rates. In June of 2016, housing advocacy groups Housing Conservation Coordinators and MFY Legal Service jointly issued a study on the impact Airbnb and similar short-term rental-facilitating platforms have on the traditional housing market in New York City. While there are several companies connecting short-term rental apartments with people seeking such accommodations, the biggest player in the market right now is undoubtedly Airbnb.
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Chart displays the percentage of Airbnb’s listings offering entire homes in New York City before and after Airbnb took down more than 1,000 of them. Image credit: Tom Slee & Murray Cox
Elected officials and affordable housing activists unite at State capitol in support of the legislation. On February 24, 2016, 300 members and supporters of the Share Better coalition rallied at the State capitol in support of Assembly Bill A08704, which would ban most online listings advertising rental apartments for less than thirty days per renter. Bill A08704 was proposed to the State Assembly approximately one month after a report was released to the public that tends to show Airbnb released its site data to the public only after purging its site of more than 1,000 illegal temporary rental listings. The rally was held on the same day Airbnb issued a letter to the State legislature to reassure Assembly Members and Senators of the company’s commitment to working with the City in creating fair rules for operating the home-sharing network.
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