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Despite celebration at the Airbnb San Francisco headquarters yesterday, this short-term rental battle is probably just beginning.
After running an eight million dollar campaign in the San Francisco city election, Airbnb has emerged victorious, winning 55 percent of votes in the fight against Proposition F, a ballot measure meant to restrict short-term vacation rentals in San Francisco.
Those voters in favor of Prop F argued that Airbnb short-term rentals restrict housing supply and cause rents to increase dramatically. San Franciscans in favor of Airbnb home sharing, on the other hand, claimed short-term rentals helped them make ends meet, while bringing communities together.
San Francisco is just one of many cities seeing a home-sharing boom, so although Airbnb won the votes in this election, it may just be the beginning of a longer battle over home-sharing policies and practices.
