Skift Take
Airbnb's new Housing Council is designed to help it enhance its posture during regulatory battles, and to engage with communities as a better corporate citizen.
Airbnb clearly doesn't want a repeat of New York City's defacto ban on short-term rentals in other destinations. So it announced the Airbnb Housing Council to better balance its own interests with those of U.S. cities and other communities.
Airbnb would like to avoid "well-intentioned" yet "strict" regulations, said Jay Carney, Airbnb's global head of policy and communications, speaking Wednesday at a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C.
Carney said New York City's law is "probably the most onerous regulation in the country if not the world." He said there's been no change in the cost of housing in New York City and that hotel prices have soared.
The Airbnb announcement said the council's goals will be to "better balance the benefits of home sharing with the needs of communities facing housing affordability challenges" and that it will advise Airbnb on policies to help communities expand long-term housing.
Former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who also previously headed the U.S. Confere