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Austin Hong of San Diego has used Airbnb and similar companies over the past five years to rent a second home for short stays. The income allows her, as well as her husband, to cover the mortgage while maintaining the three-bedroom house available for family members who visit often.
Hong responded when the city council passed a law in July banning short term rentals. He has collected signatures on petitions presented in court catering and at social gatherings as part of a successful campaign to prevent the measure from taking effect until it can be subject to a popular referendum, possibly in 2020.
"They say it's a regulation, but it's really a ban they've adopted," said Hong, 34, a creative director of a software company. "We absolutely want regulation. What we do not want is a ban. "
The explosive growth of short-term rentals throughout the country has pushed local governments to limit this practice, with the help of the hotel industry, which wants to stifle a formidable competitor.
But this effort has spawned political conflicts that have highlighted the difficulty of managing a new disruptive industry. In some jurisdictions, short-term rental companies and owners who do not want to lose a lucrative business have caused negative reactions.
[Airbnb says D.C. bill would restrict it more than anywhere except New York and San Francisco.]
In June, voters in Palm Springs, California, voted overwhelmingly to approve a voting measure that removed short-term rent limits. Some state governments, particularly in Arizona and Tennessee, intervened to protect guests when legislators thought cities imposed too much limits.
In the district, the standoff is set to peak on Tuesday with a second Security Council vote to endorse some of the country's toughest restrictions. They would ban the short-term rental of a second home – a measure that has proved to be the most controversial provision during debates nationwide.
As in many other cities, the district bill would allow homeowners to rent spaces in their principal residence when the host is present and for a specified period – up to 90 days a year in Washington – when the host is absent.
These new restrictions – in many cities in the United States and in hundreds of cities around the world – have barely slowed the progress of housing sharing, which is expected to continue to grow rapidly and permanently transform the housing sector. Accommodation and tourism.
Short-term rentals have skyrocketed because guests love the extra income and customers get a cheaper alternative to a hotel or motel. Matching the two has become a lot easier because bookings can be made online on Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO and other sites.
[Airbnb becomes flash point in the District’s hot debate over gentrification.]
The expansion has created fears in the lodging industry, where businesses and unions have funded and encouraged strict regulation of what they call "illegal hotels". They formed an alliance with disgruntled residents as short-term rentals change the character of their neighborhood. affordable housing activists. They claim, on the basis of inconclusive data, that short-term rental growth contributes significantly to the housing shortage and rising rents.
"The true story of the past year and a half seems to be the hospitality industry, realizing that Airbnb is a much bigger threat to its business than it is to it was imagined, "said Arun Sundararajan, professor of economics in New York. University.
He said that on New Year's Eve, more than 3 million people stayed in Airbnb rooms, more than the total number of people staying at hotels owned by Marriott and Hilton.
The regulations established a legal framework for the new industry, which in many cities was operating in violation of zoning laws or other ordinances. They also allowed local governments to collect taxes on short-term rentals. Airbnb indicates that about 60% of its US hosts pay such taxes.
"We are encouraged to see cities such as San Diego, Boston and New York and implement regulations that require Airbnb and its counterparts to promote illegal hotel activity, which really affects the quality of neighborhoods and businesses. affordability of housing throughout the country, "said Troy Flanagan. Vice President of the American Hotel and Lodging Association.
But new regulations are just slowing the nascent industry. Global short-term rentals increased 82 percent between 2012 and 2017, from 45.6 billion to 82.9 billion, according to a report released in July by Skift, a research company specializing in the travel industry . During the same period, hotel room sales increased by 27 per cent from $ 404.2 billion to $ 512.3 billion.
According to Skift, short-term rental sales will increase by 60% compared to 2017, reaching 132.5 billion rooms by 2017, while hotel room sales will increase by 34%, to reach 686.9 billion.
It seems likely that short-term rentals would have grown even faster without the new regulations, but no figures are publicly available on the total number of listings lost due to the new rules. In San Francisco, Airbnb announced in January that some of the county's strictest restrictions cost it nearly 5,000 registrations.
Regulation can actually help to encourage short-term rentals, depending on the sector, as it legitimizes activity and arouses interest. In addition, it is so difficult to enforce many regulations that the sharing of housing continues, even if it is technically illegal.
"The more regulations that cities try to impose are funny and draconian, the harder it is to enforce," said Matthew Kiessling, vice president of the Travel Technology Association.
But cities blame short-term rental companies for making the application difficult by refusing to share data on who lists the properties.
In Portland, Oregon, an audit of the city in August found that nearly 80% of the listed leases were operating without the mandatory city permit. City officials complained of having their hands tied by lack of data.
"It's still very difficult to have what I would call smart regulation, because it depends on data, which is largely owned by companies, which are generally not very interested in sharing data, "said Kellen Zale, a law professor at the University of Houston.
She and other analysts said the research was inconclusive as to whether the short-term rental sector was contributing to the shortage of affordable housing.
"I have seen various studies and they are going in different directions," Zale said. "We do not really have enough evidence."
Despite the fierce battle around regulation, there is common ground. Short-term rental companies agree with the hotel industry to prohibit homeowners from having multiple listings. The hotel industry is satisfied with what it calls "the real" sharing of housing, in which the hosts rent premises in their main residence when they are present.
The biggest challenge was to allow short-term rental of second homes. Denver, Phoenix and Seattle said yes, while New York and San Francisco largely banned the practice.
The question resonates with San Diego, a seaside town with thousands of vacation homes rented for the short term for generations.
Blaine Smith is the owner of a company that manages 150 vacation homes. All properties except two or three are second homes, which could not be rented under the proposed law.
"As written, it would make us virtually bankrupt," said Smith, 32. "Our history of tourism and vacation rental is so rich. It's just crazy what happened here.
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