Airbnb Steps Up Fight Against NYC Rental Ban With $5M in Funding

Airbnb isn’t giving up its fight against the New York City law that effectively banned the rental platform in the city.

The rental platform is spending $5 million on two political campaigns to get candidates in favor of homesharing into city and state offices this year with the hope of overturning Local Law 18, according to a spokesperson for Airbnb. Bloomberg first reported the news.

Local Law 18, which requires short-term rental hosts to register with the city as landlords, went into effect in September 2023 as a way to bring more housing supply back into New York City’s market by keeping homes and apartments off platforms like Airbnb, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

Airbnb, which relies on a peer-to-peer business model, has since seen more than 80 percent of its New York City listings wiped out in just one year, according to Bloomberg. That’s more than 18,000 listings and millions in revenue lost for the vacation rental company.

Airbnb fought hard to kill the law before it was passed in 2022 and last year levied a new set of criticisms against it, arguing the law didn’t accomplish lawmakers’ goals of returning more housing supply and lowering rents. Instead, Airbnb argues the law drove up hotel prices in the city to unaffordable levels.

It’s unclear which specific political candidates Airbnb plans to support in its latest salvo against Local Law 18, but the company said it is looking to back those with plans to promote tourism and help small businesses, as well as boost housing supply.

Airbnb has also suggested several changes to the law through a bill introduced in November by City Councilmember Farah Louis. That bill includes an option for owners to use the platform without being physically present, a request to increase the number of guests in a reservation, and a proposal to restrict some areas in a rental from guest access, Bloomberg reported.

Still, the New York City Council has claimed Local Law 18, which was signed into law by Mayor Eric Adams, is needed to prevent “unlawful rental operations” in the city and to discourage higher rents caused by a dip in the supply of available housing units, according to Bloomberg.

A spokesperson for the City Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While sites like Airbnb have seemed to suffer from the city’s crackdown on short-term rentals, the move has benefited the city’s hotel industry immensely.

Real estate brokerage JLL even predicted in a February report that there would be 2.2 million additional hotel room nights in 2024 that otherwise would not have been booked thanks to the law, CO reported at the time.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.