Today, tens of thousands of New Yorkers statewide are turning their greatest expense — their home — into an asset. In the last year, the typical Airbnb host in New York City earned approximately $5,000 by welcoming guests in their homes for 44 nights. Hosts take home 97% of the money when they rent their home.
This is happening at a moment when middle-class New Yorkers are grappling with economic inequality and governments at every level are considering ways to address this challenge.
Just as we changed laws to adapt from the horse-and-buggy era to the automobile, so should we update laws first drafted prior to the Great Depression to recognize the economic opportunity home-sharing provides.
Unfortunately, current state law does not distinguish between everyday New Yorkers who occasionally rent out their homes and illegal hotel operators who remove permanent housing from the market.
To make matters worse, in June, in a back-room deal in the final hours of the session, the Legislature passed a bill that doubles down on this outdated approach, threatening everyday New Yorkers with historically high fines for simply advertising their home for short-term rentals. This bill is awaiting a signature or veto from Gov. Cuomo.
There’s a better way forward. By embracing policies that promote responsible home-sharing, we will not only help New Yorkers who share their homes to pay the bills, but support small businesses in neighborhoods far outside traditional tourist zones like Midtown Manhattan.
Today, Airbnb is proposing a comprehensive set of clear, fair rules for home-sharing in New York City to serve as the framework for new legislation. Our proposal has five basic elements:
One host, one home
At the heart of our recommendations is a provision that would limit people renting their home to a single home within the five boroughs. This would help ensure that home-sharing does not remove permanent housing from the rental market — and enable regulators to target enforcement at truly bad actors, while allowing everyday New Yorkers to occasionally rent their own home.
While a change in state law is essential to enforcing this provision, Airbnb will demonstrate our commitment to protecting permanent housing in New York by automatically preventing hosts in residential properties from having more than one home within the city starting Nov. 1.
Require registration
Under our reform proposal, the state would require short-term rental hosts to register, using a simple, streamlined system. Online platforms like Airbnb would be authorized to register hosts on the state’s behalf, which would increase accountability and improve enforcement for regulators.
We recently worked with Chicago — the third-largest city in the country — to develop an online host registration system, and we are working with other major cities that are looking to adopt a similar approach.
Make home-sharing work for all
In addition to ensuring responsible New Yorkers can share their homes, our proposal would grant landlords the opportunity to set clear rules for short-term rentals in their buildings and secure a portion of the revenue to support ongoing maintenance. This program was first piloted in San Jose, Calif., and is being rolled out in cities across the U.S.
Good neighbor rules
To be a good host, you must be a good neighbor. That’s why Airbnb already provides $1 million in insurance as part of our Host Protection Insurance Program and recently launched our Neighbors Tool, which allows any individual to notify Airbnb of complaints concerning home-sharing.
Under our proposal, the state would require hosts to provide insurance and require platforms to create a dedicated 24/7 hotline for neighbor complaints. And we support a “three strikes” policy barring a host from renting a property as a short-term rental if he or she repeatedly breaks the rules.
Taxes to support affordable housing
Lastly, our proposal would authorize Airbnb to collect and remit taxes on hosts’ behalf. Although many hosts are already responsible for paying taxes, changes in state law would simplify the process and enable the state to get its fair share.
With the state’s blessing, this new revenue could be explicitly dedicated to tenant protection and affordable housing.
We are committed to finding a path in New York and look forward to working with its leaders to foster responsible home-sharing in the Empire State.
Lehane is global head of public policy for Airbnb.