Mayor Lee and Supervisor Farrell introduced an amendment to the new “Airbnb law” this week. Currently, an overloaded Planning Department has been charged with regulation of Airbnb (and other short term rental) listings. This comes on the heals of another amendment proposed by Supervisors Campos and Kim, and mere months after the original ordinance took effect.
The Lee/ Farrell amendment would create a new office, the Office of Short-Term Rental Administration and Enforcement, which, as the name suggests, would be able to focus more singularly on this type of housing use, which The Chronicle estimates to affect 5,000 homes in the City for Airbnb listings and another 1,200 for VRBO.
Meanwhile, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky appeared on APM’s Marketplace this week and explained that Airbnb’s own studies show that Airbnb either has no impact or a de minimis impact on rental prices and that it is actually allowing people to stay in their homes… so no one has anything to worry about.
The amendment would also increase the limit for allowable listings to 120 days per year, up from 90 in the existing version.
