Published October 29, 2019
By Julia Marsh

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Airbnb crackdown in the Big Apple has pushed the battle over short-term rentals across the Hudson River to Jersey City, where voters will decide Nov. 5 whether to regulate them in their neighborhoods.

“I think Jersey City is kind of a proxy for what’s going on in the New York market,” said Sue Altman, the state’s director for the Working Families Party, referring to the flourishing of Airbnb in the New Jersey commuter enclave since de Blasio’s crackdown on it in the five boroughs.

But “we’re not just going to take things that are regulated out of New York City and take them with open arms — that’s not what New Jersey is here for,” she said.

In New York City, most short-term rentals are illegal unless the permanent tenant is also living in the apartment. De Blasio has poured $6 million into enforcement of illegal listings during his tenure.

Consequently, there are now 3,000 Airbnb rentals in Jersey City, many of which are marketed to tourists visiting the Big Apple and controlled by commercial operators with multiple listings instead of individual property owners, according to the independent data website Inside Airbnb.

An Airbnb spokeswoman refuted those figures but could not provide alternative information.

The measure on the Jersey City ballot next month will allow residents to vote on regulations that would impose an annual 60-day rental limit for property owners who don’t live on site, require a $500,000 home-insurance policy of them and implement city code inspections every three years.

Liz DeBold Fusco, an Airbnb spokeswoman, said the restrictions would amount to a ban on Airbnb, putting thousands of residents who rent their homes through the system in “serious financial jeopardy.”

She said the ban was “crafted at the behest of the hotel industry’s special interests.”

Indeed the politically powerful Hotel Trades Council, a union representing hotel workers who see Airbnb as a direct competitor, plans to spent $1.15 million to ensure the ballot measure passes.

But Airbnb has spent another $4.2 million opposing the referendum.

Staci Berger, president of the nonprofit Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, said the regulations are necessary to protect affordable rents in Jersey City, since such short-term rentals eat up the overall housing market.

“We support a ‘yes’ vote on the sensible ballot question because we want to keep apartments affordable for renters while protecting residents’ health and safety and preserving the ability of homeowners to rent their homes if they choose,” Berger said.