City leaders around the world are struggling to control the short-term rental market, which many fear is jeopardizing the housing supply and displacing longtime residents.
“Fearful of seeing long-term rental housing drain away to the tourist market, governments have experimented with a flurry of rules” to regulate short-term rentals (STRs), but no city has quite gotten it right, write Feargus O'Sullivan and Jessica Loudis in Bloomberg CityLab.
Some cities ban short-term rentals altogether; others focus on specific neighborhoods; yet others implement regulations such as owner occupation or caps on the number of nights a property can be rented. “But the effectiveness of these tools and rules have been brought into question in many cities that are struggling to overcome enforcement challenges — and outwit rental property owners who are determined to wriggle around the rules.”
The article describes the situation in cities including Copenhagen, Denmark, where short-term rentals have proliferated despite a ban on full-time STRs. Barcelona, Spain, which enacted strict regulations, still “struggles to control the market. Inside Airbnb estimated that 30% of the 15,655 Airbnb properties listed in the city at the end of June were illegal, having been posted with false license numbers.”
The article goes on to describe policies implemented in cities around the world, but concludes that the landscape will continue to shift as hosts seek out ways to circumvent rules and fees.
FULL STORY: Airbnb Hosts Try to Evade City Regulations, From Copenhagen to Catalonia
A ‘Black Market’ for Short-Term Rentals Grows in NYC
While many owners are listing their rentals on other websites, others are moving them back to the long-term rental market.
Study: Vacation Rentals Compounding South Florida Housing Crisis
A new study suggests that short-term rentals are contributing to the region’s housing shortage and helping drive up costs for renter households.
Op-Ed: We Shouldn't Rush to Regulate Airbnb
Is Airbnb a prime target for regulation, or is it just another way to expand the marketplace for bedrooms? Dan Bertolet urges caution. After all, couldn't less Airbnb just mean more hotels?
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association