Airbnb Announces Eleventh Hour Bill To Steal Homes From NYers After Failing To Advance Intro 1107

NEW YORK, NY (10/27/2025) (readMedia)-- After failing to force the NYC Council to pass dangerous legislation that would deregulate New York City's housing laws, Airbnb announced updated legislation that would have the same exact impact and undermine our housing laws so the company can profit. Airbnb's new bill, a recently amended version of Intro 948, comes as Airbnb tries to salvage their multi-million dollar campaign to undermine our housing laws before New Yorkers and a new, pro-tenant Mayor can stop them. Intro 948 would include the same changes to the city's short-term rental laws as Intro 1107 does, including:

• Removing the on-site requirement for owners and allowing them to rent units unattended
• Legalizing homeowners to partition their units into multiple mini-hotels
• Increasing the number of guests who can stay in short-term rentals

In response, Whitney Hu, Director of Civic Engagement and Research for Churches United for Fair Housing, a member of the Tenants Not Tourists coalition, issued the following statement:

"Airbnb is once again trying to disguise their corporate greed as concern for New York families. After spending millions to unsuccessfully push Intro 1107, New Yorkers saw through their attempt to exploit our housing crisis for their shareholders. So now they're back with Intro 948 - a rebranded version of the same anti-tenant, anti-housing bill - pretending it's about affordability. Make no mistake: this is Airbnb racing against the clock to deregulate housing and line their pockets at our expense."

Since lawmakers passed legislation to regulate short-term rentals in 2023, Airbnb has spent millions to buy influence and support for Intro 1107, legislation that would take tens of thousands of homes away from permanent New Yorkers and cause rents to skyrocket.

Intros 948 and 1107 would effectively overturn Local Law 18, which the New York City Council voted to adopt in 2021 to better regulate the short-term rental market and crack down on predatory short-term rental platforms. Local Law 18 specifically requires short-term rental hosts to register with the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE), and prohibits booking service platforms like Airbnb from processing transactions for unregistered short-term rentals.

Despite Airbnb's baseless claims, the law has been a success and empowered the City to enforce existing housing laws. Since it went into effect, Local Law 18 has led to a dramatic decrease in short-term rental listings - many of which have since been filled again by long-term tenants.

Background

In response to Airbnb's shady efforts, advocates launched Tenants Not Tourists, a coalition committed to protecting New York City's housing stock for the people who live here - not the short-term profits for multi-billion-dollar tech companies and real estate speculators. The coalition is strongly opposed to Intro 1107 and Intro 948, both of which would prioritize real estate interests trying to profit from our city's scarce housing supply.