We’ve got about a third of our owners letting short-term. Airbnb is just one platform that facilitates this activity. It’s a global problem and legislators need to consider what this activity is doing to the affordable housing market. We are always hearing about the crisis in the housing market. I reckon Legislators need to act…and NOW!
One really great site I’d recommend everyone to scrutinise is http://www.sharebetter.org. This is what New York is doing.
below is a reply I got from Airbnb last November. They successfully shift all responsibility away from themselves.
I’m Joey and I work here at Airbnb. Thank you for contacting us regarding your concerns with a listing in your building
Airbnb is an online platform and does not own, operate, manage or control accommodations, nor do we verify private contract terms or arbitrate complaints from third parties.
We do, however, require hosts to represent that they have all rights to list their accommodations.
To that end, we are committed to notifying hosts about complaints such as yours, provided we (i) receive a formal written letter (scanned electronically as an image or .pdf) that (ii) details your specific allegation, and (iii) fully identifies the Airbnb user to whom you believe it applies (please include links).
Although we will not verify, evaluate or arbitrate the terms you identify, we will provide a complete copy of your complaint to the host we will ask them whether they wish to remove their listing.
Again, thank you for contacting us about this.
Joey B
http://www.airbnb.com/help