_____
From: Murshed Zaheed, CREDO Action [mailto:act@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2016 9:20 AM
To: Miriam Vieni
Subject: Signature needed: Tell the FTC to investigate Airbnb-style rentals
CREDO action
<http://d2omw6a1nm6pnh.cloudfront.net/images/logo-credo-120.png>
Stand
<http://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_airbnb?t=1&akid=19084.967351.9B
oAjg> with Sen. Warren: Investigate Airbnb-style rentals
Petition to Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez:
"Investigate the extent to which the short-term rental market on services
like Airbnb consists of people running businesses by renting multiple
residences simultaneously, potentially exacerbating housing shortages and
driving up rents."
Add your name:
<http://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_airbnb?t=2&akid=19084.967351.9B
oAjg> Sign the petition ?
Dear Miriam,
<http://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_airbnb?t=3&akid=19084.967351.9B
oAjg> Stand with Sen. Warren
There is a rental housing crisis in America. Millions more people look for
apartments each year, even as the housing supply decreases. More-and-more
Americans devote nearly half their income to paying rent. Americans struggle
as their rent goes up and their wages don't - and low-income Americans
suffer the worst.1
One part of the problem may be speculators buying up housing units and
putting them on short-term rental platforms, like Airbnb. These platforms
were intended to let people rent out single rooms or their own houses. But
some hosts offer multiple units of entire apartment buildings, in essence
running their own hotels and leaving long-term renters with fewer - and more
expensive - options.2
The biggest obstacle to dealing with it is we don't know how widespread the
problem is, and we can't count on the companies themselves to be honest.3,4
That's why Sen. Elizabeth Warren is teaming up with Sens. Brian Schatz and
Dianne Feinstein to demand that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
investigate and uncover the truth about speculators on short-term rental
markets.
Stand
<http://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_airbnb?t=4&akid=19084.967351.9B
oAjg> with Sen. Warren: Tell the FTC to investigate Airbnb-style rentals.
Click here to sign the petition.
The idea behind platforms like Airbnb - and similar sites like HomeAway,
VRBO, and FlipKey - is for people to rent out a room, or their own house,
and earn a few extra bucks. There's nothing wrong with that. The problem
arises when individuals or companies start renting out multiple units.
Speculators may be buying up apartments, taking them off the market, and
renting them out short-term, effectively running hotels that don't meet
state or local safety rules. There is also controversy over whether those
landlords are then paying the required taxes.
By reducing the housing supply, the people profiting off of short-term
rental platforms may be driving up rents for everyone.5 And even if someone
could afford to live long-term in an Airbnb apartment, there have been a
flurry of reports of black users being denied rentals and an academic study
that found that people with "black-sounding" names were less likely to be
approved as guests.6
Airbnb was recently caught purging 1,000 properties from its platform in New
York City in order to hide how many hosts were running businesses.7 So we
can't trust the companies themselves to come clean about how big a problem
this really is. That's why Sens. Warren, Schatz, and Feinstein have demanded
that the FTC dig in and get the facts - and why we need to stand with them.
Stand
<http://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_airbnb?t=5&akid=19084.967351.9B
oAjg> with Sen. Warren: Tell the FTC to investigate Airbnb-style rentals.
Click here to sign the petition.
If short-term rental platforms are limiting the supply of rental units and
driving up prices, then policymakers in Congress and local government will
need to do something about it. But right now, the best data we have is from
New York City, where a study found that only 6 percent of the hosts
generated 37 percent of the revenue, and 72 percent of units were in
violation of local laws.8 If those numbers hold true across the country,
that's a big issue.
The first step to fixing the problem is understanding the problem. That's
why we need to stand with Sen. Warren and tell the FTC to investigate the
short-term rental market. Click here to sign the petition:
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_airbnb?t=7
<http://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_airbnb?t=6&akid=19084.967351.9B
oAjg> &akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg
Thank you for speaking out.
Murshed Zaheed, Political Director
CREDO <http://act.credoaction.com/go/109?t=8&akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg>
Action from Working Assets
Add your name:
<http://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_airbnb?t=9&akid=19084.967351.9B
oAjg> Sign the petition ?
1. Patrick Cisson, "Why
<http://act.credoaction.com/go/12255?t=10&akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg> the Rent
is Too Damn High: The Affordable Housing Crisis," Curbed, May 19, 2016.
2. David McCabe, "Warren
<http://act.credoaction.com/go/12256?t=11&akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg> joins
call for Airbnb probe," The Hill, July 13, 2016 and Ariel Stulberg, "Airbnb
<http://act.credoaction.com/go/12262?t=12&akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg> 's
multi-unit hosts and "commercial listings" account for growing share of NYC
business," TheRealDeal.com, July 11, 2016.
3. Sens. Warren, Schatz, and Feinstein, "Letter
<https://act.credoaction.com/go/12257?t=13&akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg> to the
Federal Trade Commission regarding short-term rental platforms,"
Shatz.Senate.Gov, July 13, 2016.
4. Jana Kasperkevic, "Airbnb
<https://act.credoaction.com/go/12258?t=14&akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg> purged
more than 1,000 New York listings to rig survey - report," The Guardian,
February 10, 2016.
5. Sens. Warren, Schatz, and Feinstein, "Letter
<https://act.credoaction.com/go/12257?t=15&akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg> to the
Federal Trade Commission regarding short-term rental platforms."
6. Shelby Carpenter, "Airbnb
<http://act.credoaction.com/go/12259?t=16&akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg> Speaks
Out On Fairness To Black Travelers, Details 90-Day Company-Wide Review,"
Forbes, June 22, 2016.
7. Kasperkevic, "Airbnb
<https://act.credoaction.com/go/12258?t=17&akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg> purged
more than 1,000 New York listings to rig survey - report."
8. Sens. Warren, Schatz, and Feinstein, "Letter
<https://act.credoaction.com/go/12257?t=18&akid=19084.967351.9BoAjg> to the
Federal Trade Commission regarding short-term rental platforms."
_____
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