Council move to rein in Airbnb

The City Council on Wednesday passed a controversial bill to crack down on Airbnb’s home rental business in the city.

The legislation, which the mayor is expected to sign, will require the company to hand over all of its hosts’ names and addresses to an enforcement office – a move likely to expose some hosts to fines for renting out apartments for less than 30 days, which is illegal under state law, and drive some who don’t want their information shared off the platform altogether. It passed by a vote of 45-0. The Council called the bill an important step to fight illegal hotels that have taken affordable apartments off the market. Airbnb had launched a blitz against it, accusing pols of doing the bidding of the deep-pocketed hotel industry and its union.

“We can make sure that we are rooting out the people who are taking away our housing stock,” said Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), who sponsored the bill. “This bill is about transparency and bringing accountability to the billion-dollar companies who are not being being good neighbors.”

The Hotel Trades Council was a top backer of Speaker Corey Johnson’s campaign for the top job, and has given big bucks to many Council members. The legislation was introduced last month and quickly moved through the Council.

Airbnb spokeswoman Liz DeBold Fusco said the bill would subject hosts to “unchecked, aggressive harassment and privacy violations.” The company’s global head of policy Chris Lehane on Tuesday slammed Council members as “nothing more than bellhops for the big hotel corporations.”

Johnson said he was supported by the union because he had long fought against illegal hotels, not the other way around.

“This is being done on the merits,” he said. “Clearly they are lashing out because they lost.”