Airbnb Wednesday announced it has formed its own housing council to help seek long-term housing supply solutions.
“Experts agree the chronic, decades-long underproduction of new housing supply is driving today’s housing affordability challenges,” Airbnb said in its release.
Subscribe to our newsletter below
The company continued: “We want to play a role in finding sensible, long-term solutions to help increase the housing supply and work with cities to balance the benefits of home sharing with communities’ needs.”
The company said the council is part of its commitment to ensuring economic activity created by hosting on Airbnb strengthens communities.
The Airbnb Housing Council will be chaired by Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, former mayor of Baltimore and former president of the United States Conference of Mayors.
Rawlings-Blake said she believes Airbnb is doing its part to help address challenges in housing supply and looks forward to working with the company and the council.
“As a former mayor, I know the challenges municipal leaders face in addressing housing challenges in their communities,” said Rawlings-Blake. “There are no shortcuts or simple solutions to this crisis — it was many years in the making and will take a coordinated, long-term effort to address.”
The council will gather “leading independent housing organizations and experts” to advise the home rental company on policies, initiatives and partnerships that Airbnb might support as communities grow long-term housing options; help to identify new ways to work with cities on short-term rental policies; and inform the company on research on housing supply and affordability policy.
Jay Carney, global head of policy and communications at Airbnb, said the company will leverage the council’s expertise to help identify new policy ideas and initiatives to support host and guest communities.
“We’ve long partnered with cities to support policies that protect housing and preserve the economic activity that home sharing generates,” Carney said.
Airbnb has been criticized for its impact on housing supply, among other housing factors.
Murray Cox, founder of InsideAirbnb, an activist group that highlights illegal rentals and gentrification dangers, has voiced disapproval of short-term rental impacts, including Airbnb’s effects on the housing community.
“We know that short-term rentals, and Airbnb in particular, have numerous negative impacts on residential communities, in particular, making less rental housing available and increasing the cost of housing in neighborhoods with high concentrations, and other quality of life issues like constant parties next door, parking issues and strangers with keys to your apartment building coming and going day and night,” Cox told PhocusWire in August, while discussing New York City’s STR regulations.
