Airbnb advocates are calling on the NYC Council to pass legislation they say would make short-term rentals more accessible for homeowners.
The legislation, called Intro. 879, would increase the number of guests allowed in a short-term rental from two to four. It would also allow homeowners to rent out their homes for short stays even while they are away.
Under the current rules established by Local Law 18, homeowners must remain in the home while guests are staying there and can host no more than two paying guests. Advocates for short-term rentals say the restrictions have made it too difficult for homeowners to participate in the short-term rental market.
Chris Alexander, executive director of NAACP New York, who advocates for Intro. 879, explained that Local Law 18 was originally established with restrictions to help preserve the city’s limited housing supply.
Despite keeping larger corporations off Airbnb’s registry, the law’s restrictions have also prevented many local homeowners from participating in the short-term rental market, advocates say.
“We still have single-family and two-family homes, brownstones in Brooklyn, Harlem, other properties in Queens, that can’t be used as short-term rentals because the property owner has to be in the unit per Local Law 18, meaning no privacy for short-term renters,” Alexander said.
There are homeowners who can benefit by opening up their homes as Airbnbs, Alexander said, explaining that the extra income can help pay for mortgages, bills or other necessary expenses.
“Housing and homeownership has been a pathway to wealth creation for families, particularly for families of color,” he said. “New York, still, despite this effort to build housing and apartments, we still have homeowners. Nuancing the conversation around affordability and how New Yorkers are impacted by New York’s policies requires that we take a second look at Local Law 18.”
Council Member Mercedes Narcisse (D-Brooklyn), who sponsored the bill, echoed Alexander’s points.
“There are homeowners in my district with a spare room and a mortgage that keeps going up,” she said. “Before Local Law 18, some of them rented that room to visitors and used the money to pay property taxes, keep up with repairs, and stay in the homes they worked hard to buy. The law took that away, and the housing relief we were promised never came.”
There was a missed opportunity with the World Cup this year, as NYC homeowners missed out to the tune of nearly $5,000 each, according Airbnb data.
Airbnb leadership reported that 55% of New Jersey tourists first searched New York before booking their stay for the massive tournament in the Garden State. During this time period, New Jersey had eight times the typical number of check-ins and the median host earnings were $4,600.
“That money should have gone to families here in our city,” Narcisse said.
Further, Airbnb reported that since Local Law 18 was established in 2023, the restrictive short-term rental regulations cost homeowners more than $320 million in lost income.
“The bill would just make those necessary changes so that it is possible for single-family and two-family homes to be used more effectively as short-term rentals,” Alexander said.
Opposition to Intro. 879
There is opposition to Intro. 879, including from NYC’s hotel industry.
Vijay Dandapani, president and CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City, called the bill “irresponsible” and “outright negative for the city.”
He explained that the bill is not designed to help most homeowners due to the language in the bill. For example, he said the word “apartment” is not thoroughly defined in the bill.
“It is a very clever bill,” he said. “Private equity places can get in here, buy these places. It is not to help these small people, or alleged small people — maybe there are some who are strained because of mortgages — but they can be helped in different ways.”
Meanwhile, Narcisse said the bill “only covers one- and two-family homes, so apartment buildings aren’t part of it.”
“These are people renting out space in the home they live in,” she said. “No tenant gets pushed out, and it doesn’t open the door to illegal hotels in apartment buildings. The bill simply raises the guest limit from two to four and lets homeowners host while they’re traveling, while keeping protections for the city’s long-term housing supply.”
Dandapani said the bill should be opposed.
“Airbnb does not own these assets,” he said. “Hotel owners and operators either own or operate. Airbnb is a platform, but they have no oversight.”
There are many more benefits to hotels than Airbnbs — including safety benefits — Dandapani explained.
“Airbnb—no one knows who they employ. No one knows if there is human trafficking going on at an Airbnb because there is no front desk. They don’t adhere to fire codes that hotels adhere to,” he said.
Intro. 879 is currently in the council’s committee on housing and buildings and would still need the mayor’s sign-off to become law.