By Josh Meltzer

Over the past few years, we have worked with countless cities on a what -- at its core -- is a straightforward issue: finding an effective regulatory framework for home sharing.

We know: It’s rare to hear a business say that they are not opposed to regulation, but the truth is that we’re not -- provided those regulations are reasonable and ensure our community can continue to open their doors to tourists, all while addressing any concerns about the impact that could have on the local community.

Jersey City knows this all too well. Back in 2015, Mayor Fulop led the council in passing one of the most progressive home sharing laws in the country. Jersey City has remained a model nationwide -- and proof that a major city could recognize the opportunities our then-burgeoning industry could create for residents, businesses and the city as a whole.

Since then, as our community has grown, that promise of what home sharing could build here in Jersey City has been undeniably kept. In 2018 alone, the city welcomed 181,000 guests -- largely solo travelers, couples, and families coming for a long weekend -- in 3,100 listings citywide. With the typical Airbnb guest spending about $160 per day, mostly in the communities where they are staying, every one of those visitors has helped to lift up a local shop or restaurant, contributing to the city’s larger economic ecosystem.

On top of that, Jersey City hosts alone took home a total of $32 million in 2018. For many of those families, that’s make-or-break extra income that they can use in order to afford to stay in their neighborhoods -- plowing even more money back into the local economy.

And on top of that, as part of the original ordinance implemented back in 2015, Jersey City changed the law so that our local community could pay their fair share in taxes. Since then, we have generated more than $4 million in tax revenue for the city.

This is why we are so deeply concerned by the legislation against short-term rentals that was just proposed by the mayor and introduced in the City Council.

If you haven’t read it yet, here are the takeaways: First, it would prohibit short-term rentals in any building with three or more units, effectively banning home sharing in the vast majority of buildings in Jersey City; second, tenants would be barred from sharing their home, cutting off this economic lifeline to those who are often most in need of it; and third, the bill would impose a nonrefundable licensing fee of $500 and an annual renewal fee of $300, harming even those who are able to share their home. And as a cherry on top, this legislation would also jeopardize the privacy of people visiting Jersey City, with the government able to demand personal, private guest data at any moment.

This isn’t a bill to regulate home sharing in the same way that cities like Philadelphia, Seattle and Chicago have, with provisions like simple host registration, common sense safety requirements and protections for affordable housing. This legislation would effectively end home sharing in Jersey City entirely, undoing progress we have made over the past four years and stifling Jersey City’s growing tourism economy.

We want to make it very clear that we would welcome the opportunity to work with the city to revise the existing home sharing to include some new and more robust provisions that we have worked with other cities to implement. In fact, we have formally requested to work with the mayor to address any concerns and chart a course for the future of home sharing in Jersey City -- neither our hosts nor I have yet been extended that opportunity, but the offer is still on the table.

As a young, progressive leader once said, “You can either try and fight it and resist change … or you can try and figure it out and work together.”

Those are your words, Mayor Fulop -- explaining why you first decided to work with us back 2015. They still hold true today.

Let’s work together once again on home sharing in Jersey City — this community is counting on us to find a better way.

Josh Meltzer is the head of Northeast Public Policy for Airbnb.

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