Airbnb is reportedly launching a political war on Mayor Zohran Mamdani over New York City’s crackdown on short-term rentals — enlisting Rev. Al Sharpton and other influential black leaders in a bid to loosen restrictions ahead of next month’s World Cup.
The home-sharing giant has hosted town halls and outreach events in Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and Jamaica, Queens, as part of an aggressive campaign to roll back the city’s strict short-term rental rules, the New York Times reported Monday .
Airbnb is framing its services as an economic lifeline for black homeowners who want to rent rooms during major tourism events, especially with more than 1 million visitors expected in the region for the World Cup.
The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council repping city hotel workers has long been seen as a key force preventing Airbnb from taking root in the Big Apple. City law bars short-term rentals of less than 30 days unless the host is on premises — effectively banning Airbnb — though a proposed City Council bill would loosen the regulations.
“We have always been supportive of the hotel workers’ union, but there is, in this particular case, unintended consequences, and that is black homeowners,” Sharpton told the Times.
“Who are we protecting when the hotels are not sold out and people cannot rent rooms in their homes right there in Southeast Queens?” he added.
Sharpton has personally asked Council Speaker Julie Menin to help ease black homeowners’ ability to offer short-term rentals, according to the Times. A coalition of over a dozen black religious leaders reportedly echoed the request in a May 1 letter to the Manhattan Dem, who has clashed with Mamdani several times since he took office. The hotel workers’ union backed her bid for the speakership, the Times noted.
Since a reported $900,000 lobbying effort failed to bear fruit, Airbnb has been going on a charm offensive — sponsoring events, giving away 1,000 free World Cup tickets to young soccer players in Queens and opening a new soccer pitch in the Bronx, according to the Times.
Airbnb told The Post that nearly three years after the city enacted the short-term rental crackdown, “rent is higher than ever and virtually no additional housing has been added to the market.”
“The broad and diverse coalition of outer-borough leaders leading the fight for modest changes to the law know that homeowners deserve every shot at making additional income right now,” the company added, saying reforms it’s backing “would do just that without impacting New York renters.”
The push puts Airbnb on a collision course with democratic socialist Mamdani, who inherited the city’s short-term rental law but has so far rejected efforts to change it. Airbnb attacked him during last year’s mayoral election, though the hotel workers’ union didn’t endorse him, the Times noted.
A spokesperson for the mayor told the Times that easing the rules would worsen the housing crunch and turn apartments into “investment opportunities for predatory actors looking to cash in.”
The battle has exposed growing political tensions between City Hall, organized labor and some black homeowners frustrated by the inability to legally rent out rooms or apartments for short stays.
The hotel workers’ union has long argued that Airbnb removes housing from the market and contributes to rising rents and displacement in working-class neighborhoods. It has reportedly been trying to counter Airbnb’s outreach to black clergy by building alliances with pastors and housing advocates opposed to expanding short-term rentals.
Rev. Robert Waterman, president of the African American Clergy and Elected Officials organization, blasted Airbnb to the Times.
“Short-term rentals are driving up housing costs and contributing to displacement in black communities that have already endured generations of disinvestment,” he said.
Under one proposal that’s yet to gain traction at the City Council, owners of single-family homes would be allowed to offer rentals without the hosts being present for less than 30 days. The city’s limit on guests would also be lifted, from two to four.
The bill has few sponsors and would not take effect until six months after passage, making it too late to impact the World Cup, the Times noted
Still, the head of a prominent historically black church in Brooklyn voiced support of reform.
“Black homeowners deserve the opportunity to make extra income as our city faces an extraordinary affordability crisis and an exodus among our community being priced out. That’s why black leaders are coming together to lead a grassroots fight to reform our short-term rental laws,” Rev. Dr. Adolphus C. Lacey, senior pastor of Bethany Baptist Church, told The Post in a statement.
The Post has sought comment from Airbnb, Mamdani, Menin, Sharpton and the hotel workers’ union.
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