WVTF Radio – Concerns about Airbnb Could Lead to Stronger Regulations

July 15, 2016
New technology is disrupting all kinds of industries, everything from newspapers and taxis to music and now hotels. The latest technology allows homeowners to rent out rooms of their house, or sometimes the entire house. That’s causing alarm among lawmakers, who are now engaged in an effort to craft new kinds of regulations. For many neighborhoods across Virginia, the dawn of the new Airbnb era has brought with it a sense of uncertainty — a watchful and suspicious eye toward strangers parading in and out of their neighborhoods. Mike Rioux says his Fairfax County neighborhood was recently transformed into a location shot by an Airbnb rental on his street. “It started at 7 o’clock in the morning. They erected tents in the street, blocked mailboxes, had all kinds of trucks. I mean this is totally outside the bounds of what’s acceptable to us as far as what we think Airbnb should be doing.” During a recent hearing in Richmond, lawmakers heard from speaker after speaker about how their neighborhoods have been transformed from quiet suburban streets into clandestine commercial strips….
Source: http://wvtf.org/post/concerns-about-airbnb-could-lead-stronger-regulations#stream/0