Pol, Airbnb rent & rave

AIRBNB IS going to the mattresses with the city controller’s office.

The city’s chief auditor charged the online subletting giant is driving up rents in New York.

Airbnb and the independent data company AirDNA shot back that the agency’s most recent study misinterprets the numbers, and that Controller Scott Stringer (photo right) has wildly inflated the number of active units tied up by short-term rentals.

“@Airbnb is driving up rents for millions of New Yorkers. The company is attempting to smear our independent analysis rather than opening their books,” Stringer tweeted Monday morning.

Last week, Stringer put out a report that concluded rents jumped 21.6% in Manhattan’s tourist areas and 18.6% in the trendy Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Citywide, Airbnb pumps up rents by 9.2%, the report said.

Stringer’s report argued that by lowering the supply of available rental units, Airbnb was driving up demand — and with it, rents.

Chris Lehane, head of global policy for Airbnb, said the report manipulated and distorted data to arrive at its conclusions and should be “retracted.”

“The document that was released by the controller is crucially flawed in its conclusions,” he said in a conference call.

Lehane insisted that the typical Airbnb host made $5,400 a year and rented space in their apartments 60 nights a year.

“These are people who are simply using their homes to make their housing costs,” he said, adding, Stringer was “misled, bamboozled, duped.” “We’re actually helping people to be able to stay in their homes in New York City,” he said.

Lehane blamed the report’s conclusions on the hotel industry.

“If the hotel key fits in the door, turn it,” he said.

AirDNA, the number-crunchers for the online rental site, also rebutted the findings, arguing not all the apartments on the website are active, and are therefore part of the available city housing stock.

“AirDNA fully supports Airbnb in condemning the controller’s analysis,” the data company’s CEO Scott Shatford said. “The controller is once again using Airbnb as a scapegoat for a housing affordability crisis that has been growing for decades. In New York City, just over 5,300 entire homes were rented on Airbnb for six months or more in the past year, representing 0.2% of the total housing supply — it is impossible for Airbnb to have a material impact on rental prices.”

Stringer hit back, charging that Monday’s press call was nothing but hot air.

“Airbnb's high-priced lobbyists are doing what they always do when confronted with facts they don’t like, which is hold press conferences to try and smear those who dare to question the company's impact on cities,” Stringer said.

He called on the online apartment renter to release its raw data so that those who violate city laws through Airbnb can be stopped.