When Airbnb first became a thing many were thrilled to swap their hotel mini fridges for full blown kitchens when traveling. Though things changed in the NYC Airbnb scene back in September 2023 when thousands of listings vanished following NYC’s Short-Term Rental Registration Law, Local Law 18 (LL18). However, a new measure being floated around the New York City Council may again make some changes.
Local Law 18 requires short-term rental hosts to register with the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement and, without compliance and registration, prevents transactions to be processed through booking platforms such as Airbnb. The law also requires hosts to be physically present in the home while it’s being rented–aka no more “entire home to yourself” when traveling–and limits only two people to stay in the rental at the same time.
The thought process behind the law was that short-term rentals compound NYC’s imminent housing crisis by “push[ing] up rents and help[ing to] fuel New York City’s housing shortage,” though an Airbnb blog post notes that “One year after passage, NYC’s unprecedented short-term rental regulations have failed to deliver on their promise to combat the housing crisis,” though there has been a more than 90% drop in Airbnb NYC listings.
Thus, Airbnb did a deep dive into Local Law 18, finding that with its implementation travel is more expensive for consumers, no change in vacancy rates has been identified, and rents continue to increase. And now, a new report conducted by HR&A Advisors has found that LL18 is not only bad for Airbnb, but for NYC as a whole as the law could lead to less economic and fiscal impacts from Airbnb for the city and hosts.
The report writes:
LL18’s effects are rippling through NYC’s economy. With short-term rentals sharply limited, the city could potentially see $2.5 billion less in spending from Airbnb guests, impacting small businesses and local economies, citywide – the vast majority of the impact found outside Manhattan.
And the decrease in spending will have a ripple effect, with the anticipation of 21,000 jobs and $902 million in worker wages to be lost as a result. Overall, the decrease in short-term rental revenue means that NYC and New York State as a whole could experience a loss of $96 million in estimated tax revenue generated from Airbnb guests–the equivalent to funding nearly 300 public school teachers.
As for NYC’s outer boroughs, they could “potentially experience $1.6 billion less in visitor spending, more than 15,700 fewer jobs, and $573 million less in worker wages,” and the economic impact of LL18 is substantial for local businesses in these boroughs.
Prior to LL18 taking effect, Airbnb’s listings spanned all five boroughs, with nearly 70% of listings run by hosts located in Brooklyn, Queens, and the other outer boroughs. Sure, this is good news for hotels whose prices have surged–rising 6% from May 2023 to May 2024–and have seen a major financial benefit following the law’s implementation, though it’s now increasingly expensive to stay in NYC.
And as for the 70% of Airbnbs travelers could have stayed in in NYC’s outer boroughs prior to the law, those have been replaced with the only 20% of NYC hotel rooms that are housed in the outer boroughs. As a result, travelers are now clustering in Manhattan.
And as New Yorkers we know there’s much more to NYC than just Manhattan–check out Queens’ Astoria, Brooklyn’s Greenpoint, or The Bronx’s Little Ireland for starters!
Now, a new bill being considered by the New York City Council would allow some landlords to list their properties on Airbnb–that’s if they’re one or two-family homes (which there are more than 900,000 of across NYC’s boroughs, according to a recent housing survey).
The bill, introduced by Councilmember Farah Louis of Brooklyn, would allow one and two-family homeowners to rent their homes to up to four adults during a timeframe of less than 30 days on platforms such as Airbnb in NYC. The bill does not require the homeowner to be present in the home while it’s being rented, though they do still need to register their units with the city.
Homeowner advocates who are able to earn extra income from temporary stays without having to worry about full-time tenants are, of course, in support of the new bill. On the flip side, tenant groups are opposing the bill, stating that these listings take much-needed homes off the market, once again referencing NYC’s housing crisis.
NYC Office of Special Enforcement spokesperson Camille Adolphe stated that they’re reviewing the proposal. In the meantime, if you’re looking for an Airbnb to cozy into this fall or winter outside of NYC, these are some of our favs.