San Francisco Business Times – Oakland, taking page from S.F., moves ahead on regulating Airbnb

July 7, 2016
Oakland’s City Council is calling for an ordinance to regulate short term-housing offered through transient hosting websites like Airbnb, VRBO and HomeAway. Citing the increase in tourism and major conventions coming to Oakland in recent years, as well as the strain on the city’s affordable housing stock, City Council members are directing the Planning and Building Department and the City Planning Commission to bring an ordinance forward within six months to regulate and tax the use of short-term rental platforms. “The City of Oakland embraces the new sharing economy market, however, the City has yet to uniformly permit, regulate and collect taxes from all of these new entities,” the City Council noted in a report. “It is the desire of City Council to allow for legal Short Term Residential Platforms under a regulatory system that protects the residential character of neighborhoods, maintains the quality of life of existing residents, and preserves existing rental housing stock, especially affordable rental units.”…
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2016/07/oakland-airbnb-short-term-rental-regulation-tax.html