A weekend topic starting with Gothamist in New York. "Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city had issued a subpoena against the home-sharing giant Airbnb, demanding information on approximately 20,000 Airbnb listings in New York City. Chris Lehane, the head of global policy for Airbnb, urged the mayor to follow San Francisco’s lead. 'At the end of the day, we know that home sharing is here to stay in the Empire State,' Lehane wrote."

From News 4 in Tennessee. "Nashville has a new issue as developers are turning entire neighborhoods into short-term rental properties. Metro Councilman Freddie O’Connell said the industry has run amok at a time when Nashville is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis."

"'Let’s say there’s 20 of them. That’s 20 permits that aren’t ever going to be housing again. They’re just going to be little hotels,' said O’Connell. He said once the city issues a short-term rental permit, there’s no going back. A new state law says cities can’t let short-term rental permits expire."

From WKRN in Tennessee. "'One reason why we don't just allow, we have zoning and why some places are zoned for residential areas and some are zoned for hotels and some for businesses it's the idea that you know sometimes you don't want to live around businesses and around a bunch of tourists and if Airbnb just comes in and just sort of ignores those zoning distinctions and says nope, if you're in town in New Orleans for Mardi Gras you don't have to stay at a hotel, just go stay in a residential neighborhood, that's maybe not great for the neighbors or the long term residents there,' said Josh Bivens with the Economic Policy Institute."

"And we're told in many areas where homeowners are supposed to have a permit to list their property on Airbnb, they don't, and they're able to just fly under the radar. Bivens said, 'It's all very murky. I would say one big problem is that Airbnb tends to not pay much attention to are we, or are we not allowed to have units rented in this particular building.'"

From Global News in Canada. "The City of Kelowna has revealed new rules for short-term rentals that could affect hundreds of hosts throughout the city. Alexandra Dagg, public policy director for Airbnb, said the proposed bylaw is too restrictive."

"'This is not a commercial activity. This is not a professional activity. This is people sharing a space in their home or their vacation home when they’re not using it,' Dagg said. 'And so rules need to be simple. They need to be affordable and easy to follow.'"

From Castanet in Canada. "Simply put, short-term rentals are toxic. They have a negative effect on the local economy, including tourism, due to the fact their extreme profitability encourages the conversion of long-term rentals, thereby reducing the rental housing supply employers and employees need."

"Such loss of supply can be significant. There’s no data available for Kelowna, but in Toronto, researchers found that STRs reduced the rental vacancy rate by almost 4 per cent."

"Developers and speculators will also reap the rewards on non-conforming uses. The regulation concerning the grandfathering of STR use will let as many as 16 residential buildings operate free of the principal residence rule."

"While flying the banner of conscientious regulation, the City of Kelowna essentially plans to do what no other jurisdiction in the world has, which is create a virtual STR industry for big fish that’s free of the rules the little fish have to play by. This is an outrage."

From Forbes. "Greeks are beginning to see the ugly side of the online marketplace and hospitality service site Airbnb. That’s according to a piece published recently in euronews. 'Rents are skyrocketing, local residents are 'expelled,' and neighborhoods are deserted' says the article."

"'Airbnb has made it difficult for local people to find and afford a place to rent,' adds attorney Kyriaki Perrou. Theophanis Matsopoulos, Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry Counsellor, agrees. 'There’s a big shortage for long-term rentals, which pushes rents sky high' he says. That’s the case even in areas that aren’t near city landmarks. Like Patisia, a low income area, where rents are up 25% over the last year."

From Stuff. "Airbnb, which declined to comment for this story, does not share its listings data but an Australian, Murray Cox, opened a window into the company's activity by scraping the website and making it available on Inside Airbnb. Cox said he found most Airbnb listings were entire homes and flats, many rented permanently."

"'The data dispelled the myth of home sharing and highlighted that commercial operators were turning their investment properties into illegal hotels at the expense of precious housing for residents,' Cox said."

"The top five Sydney Airbnb hosts have more than 100 listings, led by Sabrina with 197 properties and L'Abode Accommodation Specialist with 176 places. A Sydney Morning Herald analysis of Inside Airbnb data from December 2018 found at least 1000 properties listed in nine suburbs across Sydney but one in three listings have never been reviewed by a guest. No reviews may indicate a property has not been let out before."

"Top 10 suburbs for listings were: Sydney (CBD) 9241, Waverley 5467, Randwick 3346, Manly 1800, Warringah 1794, Woollahra 1573, North Sydney 1370, Marrickville 1252, Pittwater 1192 and Leichhardt 999."

"Tracey McArdle, who has facilitated short-term rentals in Sydney since the 1980s, said she resisted Airbnb as long as she could. 'It's terrible, they're making the prices go down [because] they've over-supplied the market,' she said. 'It's a very scary thing for owners … there are houses I'm renting out for a period of time for $10,000 that would have cost $20,000 a decade ago.'"

"McArdle said the 'short-term party renters' had also created havoc in the industry. In Redfern, where she lives, long-term tenants have been replaced by a stream of transient partiers. When she asked the owner of one of these properties why they'd changed to Airbnb rentals, the answer was simple."

"'The woman next to me said she did it because she can now get a week's rent in three days,' McArdle said. 'She could get $900 a week long term, or $1200 a week short term.'"