Fifty-five percent of voters opposed the anti-Airbnb Proposition F and 57 percent opposed Proposition I, which would have imposed an 18-month moratorium on luxury condo development in the Mission.
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With all precincts reporting, Proposition F was defeated 55 percent to 45 percent, San Francisco’s election website said.
Airbnb’s explosive growth – it has more than 2 million listings in 34,000 cities – has spurred pushback from lawmakers, neighbors, landlords and housing activists in many of those cities. Airbnb had an impressive $8m to defeat the measure while supporters only raised $800,000.
The controversy centered around whether vacation rentals – which the site provides for travelers at a more subsidized rate than a traditional hotel – were diverting housing in the city, something which there is not a lot of, to profitable year-round rentals for property owners. The event was billed as a debriefing to debate the defeat of Proposition F, which might have toughened existing guidelines for the service by, amongst different things, slicing the assortment of nights people might rent out rooms of their homes. “Regardless of the fact that they won, Airbnb and City Hall both felt the heat from [the Prop. F] campaign and I think we raised awareness that San Franciscans are not happy with the status quo”. Should similar measures be introduced elsewhere, however, the company could face serious financial consequences. Its headline said, “Housing is the most important issue facing San Francisco”, followed by “the Democratic Party’s endorsements to make housing more affordable”.
“Had you donated that $8 million you spent fighting Proposition F directly to the public libraries you love so much, that could have made a bigger difference”, she wrote in a Facebook post.
San Francisco mayor Ed Lee is of the latter opinion, arguing that Prop F is “too extreme”, as is California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, who claimed that it “undermines the new short-term rental laws before they’ve even had a chance to work”. He says three of the 30 or so houses on his cul-de-sac have been used as Airbnb rentals.
In the United States alone, there are 4 million Airbnb hosts and renters. In recent years, technology jobs have shifted from Silicon Valley to San Francisco as competition increases for young engineers drawn to the vibrant urban environment.
Though members of the clubs might home-share through any platform, be it Airbnb or Homeaway or VRBO, and though Lehane emphasized that Airbnb won’t expressly direct the hosts and guests but rather act as a “catalyst” for an “organic” movement that is already burgeoning in a few cities without the company’s help, the announcement seemed like a shot across the bow of lawmakers or lobbyists who might try to take on the leader in this field.
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Aaron Peskin’s victory in District 3, and the threat of another ballot measure in 2016, might be enough to motivate the new progressive majority on the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor to reach a deal.
