Reuters – Airbnb backs off fight with governments, offers policy suggestions

December 7, 2016
In a moment of peace-making with regulators, Airbnb on Wednesday released a set of policy suggestions for governments that are considering new laws for home- and apartment-renting. Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky has said that the company was slow to engage with cities on the business model and potential implications to neighborhoods and rental markets. Critics in cities with tight housing markets such as New York and San Francisco say that Airbnb enables landlords to evict people and convert their apartments into short-term rentals, which takes affordable housing off the market and drives up rental prices. “The vast majority of activity on Airbnb is by ordinary people making median income,” Chesky said in an interview with Reuters last month at an Airbnb conference. “I did not anticipate and appreciate there would be so many property management companies and unscrupulous landlords that would list so many properties (on Airbnb) in some cities. That is a problem.”…
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-airbnb-policy-idUSKBN13X07P