City council voted in favor of studying the impacts of regulating and taxing programs like Airbnb, or “internet lodging services” and homeshare programs Monday night.
City council voted in favor of studying the impacts of regulating and taxing programs like Airbnb, or “internet lodging services” and homeshare programs Monday night.
The resolution comes one the heels of visitors flocking to Richmond during the upcoming UCI Road World Championships and looking for available housing.
Airbnb’s website reads that “local governments vary greatly in how they enforce [regulatory] laws.” Many governments restrict or don’t allow charging at all for guests in a home to staying for a short period.
In some of the localities where its service is taxed Airbnb handles the collection and remission on behalf of its “hosts.” Their website also asks their future hosts to “please review your local laws before listing your space on Airbnb.”
Councilman Charles Samuels was a co-patron of the resolution along with Councilman Parker Agalesto. Samuels said that the goal is for the city to understand citizen and visitor lodging habits.
“We want to make sure our rules keep up with technology,” said Councilman Samuels “If there’s a new way (for) people to do things, we need to be up with the way that people are living. It’s important to revise our laws. However, its hard to say without looking into it what the revisions should be.”
The study is framed in the context of the upcoming UCI Road World Championships. There is a potential disconnect between the amount of traditional lodging available in walking or biking distance to the race course and the projected 450,000 visitors expected for the race.
“I predict that you’re going to have people staying from Williamsburg to Charlottesville for that thing,” said Samuels. “It could be a lot less than half a million people coming to town, but at the end of the day that’s about what we’re thinking. Because its not a definite amount and its counting repeat customers I think we’ll be fine with the lodging.”
If a visitor to Richmond wants to stay for the race, some Airbnb lodging will be closer to the race course than traditional hotel rooms.
“For the most part if you’re coming into Richmond, and you want to stay in a hotel, you’re either downtown or way out in Short Pump,” Airbnb host Amanda Gibson said to RVAMag in a previous article examining Richmonders who already open their house through services like Airbnb. “So to get a neighborhood experience, that’s what you get with Airbnb.”
The regulation and taxation is precedented. Airbnb’s organization had an extensive legal battle with the State of New York about taxes and regulation. The organization succumbed to the regulation, adapting their business to the new rules.
“We need to move forward,” an Airbnb spokesman, Nick Papas, told the The New York Times. “We need to work together on some sensible rules that stop bad actors and protect regular people who simply want to share the home in which they live.”
Here in Richmond, the vote was unanimous among city council members present for the vote. Councilmen Agelasto and Chris Hilbert were absent.
Samuels said the study will answer concerns about the services and help the council to understand what should be done.
“Right now, I think there’s a lot of questions,” said Samuels. “How would it be reported? How would it be collected? Is it even something we need to stick our noses in?”
