In NYC, an unusual task force fights home-as-hotel rentals like Airbnb
From an office by the Brooklyn Bridge, a specialized team of investigators tackles a fast-growing concern in the nation’s biggest city: apartments being rented like hotel rooms.
Building and fire inspectors, police, lawyers, city tax specialists and others combine door-knocking, digital sleuthing and even video surveillance in an uncommon approach to an issue bubbling up around the country.
New York’s investigators have cited more than 7,000 fire and building code violations, shut down over 200 short-term apartments and sued several operators — ending an additional 250 short-term rentals — over the last nine years, according to the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement. With Airbnb and other websites sparking a short-term rental boom, some lawmakers now want to triple the illegal-hotel investigation staff and have it go beyond answering complaints to scour the web for suspect listings.
“The problem has skyrocketed in the past few years,” and enforcement must keep pace, says City Council Housing and Buildings Committee Chairman Jumaane Williams.