Suburbs follow suit on Airbnb regs
Possible new restrictions would create ring of rules around Hub
Airbnb announced a big haul in Massachusetts last year, with local hosts pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars through the short-term rental company — though the suburbs are following Boston’s lead in regulating the expanding market.
Quincy, Milton, Brookline, Revere and Everett are each considering regulations on shortterm rentals, which would nearly complete a ring around Boston of all of the city’s inner suburbs putting similar restriction on Airbnb-style rentals.
Brookline is expected to have restrictions on the Town Meeting agenda this Spring. Everett will file regulations for next week’s council meeting. Revere and Quincy both expect to introduce Boston-style Airbnb ordinances in the next couple of months, according to officials, and Milton is also eyeing further restrictions, according to published reports.
They would join Somerville, Cambridge and Newton, which all already have regulations in effect. All are generally similar to Boston’s ordinance, which limits listings to owneroccupied units or apartments on the same property. Those rules went into effect in September and Airbnb began requiring city-issued registration numbers for all listings starting in December, leading to a sharp reduction in listings, dropping from 5,500 at the start of the month to around 3,700.
“We’ve definitely seen an uptick,” said Christopher Walker, chief of staff to Quincy Mayor Thomas
Koch, on the number of listings in Quincy recently.
Everett assistant city solicitor Keith Slattery said Everett is filing an ordinance for Monday’s meeting that will allow Airbnbs at nonresident properties in business districts, but not in more residential parts of town.
On Wednesday, Airbnb touted “the positive impact of our short-term rental community across the Bay State” in terms of income, taxes and tourism business.
“As we dive into this new year, we hope to continue demonstrating to officials statewide the significant value of shortterm rentals, as we work together to implement new regulations and make our hosts aware of their roles and responsibilities,” said Kelley Gossett, head of Public Policy for Airbnb in Massachusetts.
Airbnb on Wednesday touted 1.3 million stays in Massachusetts in 2019, adding up to $284.4 million, including $100.9 million in Suffolk County, $54.9 million in Middlesex County and $15.5 million in Norfolk County.
The short-term rental company, which allows people to rent out their properties to visitors, noted that it did $93.3 million in business in the Bay State on its five busiest weekends, which ran from late July to mid August.