A new study is raising concerns that Airnbnb is pushing much-needed housing units off the GTA market. Nearly 85 per cent of Airbnb revenue in the area comes from renting out entire homes as opposed to spare rooms in shared spaces, the study shows. It’s an indication that people are buying properties specifically for the purpose of running “ghost hotels” — properties reserved for short-term leases….

Holiday rental website Airbnb is not prepared to share information about individual landlords who don’t meet Amsterdam’s rules for renting out property with city officials, broadcaster NOS said on Friday. Amsterdam allows people to rent out their homes via websites such as Airbnb for up to 60 nights a year and to no more than four people, provided they own the property or don’t live in social housing. However, there are thousands of properties in the city which are rented out illegally or by professional companies and Amsterdam has threatened to tear up the Airbnb deal without more information from the website….

Three U.S. senators asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the impact of Airbnb Inc. and other home-rental websites on housing markets, attempting to elevate local regulatory
battles to the federal level. Senators Dianne Feinstein of California, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wrote a letter to FTC Chairwoman
Edith Ramirez requesting the agency “study and quantify” the prevalence of commercial renters using Airbnb, HomeAway Inc., VRBO and other short-term rental services. The letter said activity on those sites can result in housing shortages and drive up prices….

Senator Elizabeth Warren has urged the federal government to investigate
Airbnb and other short-term rental companies in a move that experts say marks an unprecedented step in US lawmakers’ formal scrutiny of the “sharing economy”. The progressive senator from Massachusetts, who has taken on a high-profile role in the presidential
race, co-signed a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday, requesting that the agency “study and quantify” the extent to which the short-term lodging market consists of “persons or firms acting in a commercial manner by renting out entire
residences or multiple residences simultaneously”….

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday called for a regulatory probe into whether
short-term rental websites such as Airbnb are taking housing away from long-term renters and pushing up prices.
Warren, joined by Senators Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Dianne Feinstein of California, urged the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission to examine the rapid growth of such businesses as Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO and FlipKey and determine their impact on housing.
“We are concerned that short-term rentals may be exacerbating housing shortages and driving up the cost of housing
in our communities,” the senators said in a letter to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez.
“We have also read troubling reports of racial discrimination on some short-term rental platforms.”…

Airbnb just can’t get out of the hot seat. On the same day CEO Brian Chesky
publicly apologized for failing to foresee how racism could impact the platform during its founding days, a group of U.S. Senators have penned a strongly worded letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging it to consider how the company is impacting the housing
market. Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA CA +0.18%) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) penned the note asking the FTC to look at how Airbnb and companies like it could be “exacerbating housing shortages” and “driving up the cost of housing in
our communities.” The letter also pointed out “troubling reports” of racial discrimination….

Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Wednesday called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate home-sharing rental services such as Airbnb and “the commercial manner” in which people or companies use those services “to profit from short-term rentals,
taking housing inventory off the market and driving up the cost of rent.” “We are concerned that short-term rentals may be exacerbating housing shortages and driving up the cost of housing in our communities,” Feinstein, Schatz and Warren wrote. “Furthermore,
we are concerned that communities and consumers may be put at risk through violations of sensible health, safety, and zoning regulations under state and local law.”…

Sen. Elizabeth Warren — one of Congress’ most high-profile Democrats and a member of the Senate committee on housing — is calling for a federal study of
home-sharing companies like Airbnb to see what impact they have on neighborhoods. In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission also signed by Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the pols say an in-depth analysis at the national level is
necessary because they are concerned the companies might be exacerbating housing shortages and “driving up the cost of housing.”…

Santa Monica, which last year passed some of the nation’s toughest regulations
on short-term rentals, has now convicted its first Airbnb host under the new law, prosecutors said. Rental operator Scott Shatford, who listed five properties on Airbnb, was charged with eight misdemeanor counts of operating a business without a license and
failing to comply with citations after he refused to stop renting out his properties, Deputy City Atty. Yibin Shen said Wednesday. Shatford pleaded no contest on July 5 in a plea deal with the city, agreeing to pay $3,500 in fines and to stop renting properties
within the city. He was also placed on two years’ probation….

SANTA FE, N.M. — In a joint announcement Wednesday, the city of Santa Fe
and the town of Taos said the online vacation rental service Airbnb will start collecting lodgers’ taxes from its hosts and remit them back to the municipalities beginning Aug. 1. “Lodgers’ taxes help support the local economy and are already being paid by
guests of hotels, motels and bed & breakfasts in Taos and Santa Fe,” states a press release. “Many individual short-term rental owners already collect and remit tax, but this new relationship with Airbnb will substantially increase the level of compliance.”…