New York City targets Airbnb in raids – The Wall Street Journal
DUBLIN – In some ways, Airbnb has made cities more accessible, providing accommodation options to travellers and income to homeowners. But it has also played a role in pricing people out of the cities they live in. In Dublin, where I live, rental accommodation is in short supply and rents are sky high. Yet there are hundreds of Airbnb apartments available all around the city. People who own downtown apartments can make a small fortune renting them out, even if only for two weeks a month. Meanwhile, nurses and police officers are forced to live hours outside the city they work in. This dynamic is playing out everywhere and is a source of growing frustration in cities around the world. One city that has started to take action is New York City, which (like many other cities around the world) has imposed strict limitations on short-term rentals in the face of housing shortages and rising rents. Now, the police are raiding buildings in a bid to shut down off-book Airbnb-ers. Yet more evidence that regulation is catching up to the technology sector and, increasingly, clipping its wings.  – Felicity Duncan
By Josh Barbanel
(The Wall Street Journal) A team of New York City law-enforcement officers swarmed a Manhattan condominium last month, issuing 27 notices of violations for illegal hotel use in one of the largest crackdowns on short-term rentals such as those listed on Airbnb.
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