Last November, IMPACCT Brooklyn asked the borough about illegal AirBNBs.
Specifically, we wanted to gauge how much of an issue illegal AirBNBs prove to be among rent-regulated tenants in the communities we serve. Illegal AirBNBs and other short-term rentals have been a growing concern in New York City over the past few years. Advocates and supporters think it’s a way to help small owners supplement their income and pay their mortgage, while critics say home-sharing services like AirBNB turn residential apartments into illegal hotels and aggravate the city’s housing shortage. Regardless, illegal AirBNBs are not something we’ve dealt with before, so in order to take a temperature check on the issue, we created a short, six question survey, and distributed it to over 13,000 people via email and social media. Our goal was to find out from persons on the ground, living in rent-regulated housing, how often they are encountering AirBnB activity in rent regulated buildings/apartments (which is illegal), and what those experiences are like.
We heard back from people all over Brooklyn, as well as a few in Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx, and the results from our small convenience sample of 167 people were varied. 67% of respondents reported they weren’t worried about apartments in their buildings being used for AirBNBs, and 74% of respondents claimed they weren’t affected by AirBNB activity in their buildings. Some claimed AirBNB was a great way to supplement their income, while others expressed concerns about safety, comfort, and disturbances in their buildings. When asked about their feelings regarding AirBNBs in rent-stabilized buildings, most respondents were indifferent to opposed, although some were okay with the concept and directed their chagrin towards landlords and the housing market itself. You can view the comprehensive results of the survey here.
Follow IMPACCT Brooklyn for more on this conversation as we explore the different sides of the effect of illegal short term rentals on the availability of affordable housing and hear a number of different perspectives on the matter.
