Wednesday in Key Largo, Monroe County commissioners will review a proposal to initiate a class-action lawsuit against Airbnb in a bid to force the company to be more forthcoming about the unit owners who use the firm’s online booking platform.

Some industry experts and housing advocates say the growth of Airbnb has pushed the price of rent and housing higher, but how much or how little can be difficult to prove.

Using the San Francisco methodology, he determined that 53 per cent of the 3,424 active listings in Vancouver as of last December were being run by commercial hosts – people who were renting anywhere from one to 20-plus units and didn’t live in any of them.

One of the largest vacation rental sites, Airbnb, is under major scrutiny and being hit with a class-action suit for discrimination against its African-American users. The class-action suit that was held in Washington D.C. federal court on Tuesday was due to the allegations that Airbnb violated the Fair Housing Act.

San Francisco is home to one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. With rent prices soaring, more and more people are looking to earn some extra cash by renting out their homes to tourists through websites like Airbnb and Craigslist.

Lincoln Park resident and property owner David Lissner, 64, and others said they have no problem with people renting out rooms. “I’m all for people making money,” Lissner said. But he doesn’t want his neighborhood to resemble a college fraternity party.

In the latest chapter of an ongoing battle over the sharing economy, the city of Paris is asking residents to squeal on any neighbors who have not properly registered a residence that’s being used as an Airbnb.

Airbnb is formally opposing a bill to ban the advertising of illegal units.

“This bill would unfairly treat everyday New Yorkers who simply share their primary home just like unscrupulous landlords who warehouse apartments to be used as illegal hotels,” Airbnb’s Josh Meltzer wrote in a memo of opposition.

Airbnb is a fast growing platform that allows travellers to rent out an apartment or room from a local for a few days while visiting a city. But while this is handy for travellers looking for affordable accommodation it has started to cause other problems in some areas.

A new paper published in the Harvard Law and Policy Review argues that short-term rentals, like the kind on offer at Airbnb, are exacerbating L.A.’s housing crisis. The paper’s author, graduate student Dayne Lee, found that Airbnb “decreases the supply of housing and spurs displacement, gentrification and segregation.”