Report alleges scofflaw Airbnb hosts contributing to COVID-19 spike
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The pandemic has complicated life for real estate investors — both foreign and domestic — who rely on short-term rentals (STR) to pay their bills, and it’s prompted some to shirk the rules.
On Thursday, advocacy group Fairbnb released a report claiming as many as 2,800 listings could be found and accessed in the province on short-term rental site Airbnb, despite a two-month ban on short-term rentals due to COVID-19.
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The data in the report suggests many Airbnb operators kept their lights on for a “high volume of short-term rental guests” during the April-to-June ban, largely confined to condominium developments in downtown Toronto.
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“An analysis of the reviews left by the guests on Airbnb’s website shows that high volume STRs operating during the ban were frequented by a series of different guests, each staying for short periods throughout the 60 days,” the report’s author, J.J. Fueser, wrote in Fairbnb’s press release.
“We are not likely dealing with workers in need of quarantine or isolation, nor travelers stuck in Toronto due to newly-imposed travel restrictions.”
The report alleges short-term rental activity in condos along Toronto’s waterfront — the largest concentration of Airbnb listings in the city — is contributing to Toronto’s surge in COVID-19 infections.
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“During COVID-19, the so-called sharing economy might be distributing more than just access to people’s homes or cars,” the report concluded.
“With regards to the ‘home sharing’ market, our data strongly suggests that there might be a close link between community spread of the COVID-19 and short-term rental facilitated indoor
gatherings along Toronto’s waterfront.”
Airbnb spokesperson Nathan Rotman dismissed the report, telling the Sun it’s based on little fact.
“This is yet another baseless, hotel industry-funded report that plays fast and loose with the facts (and with science,)” he said.
“In reality, during a time when hotels and motels operated without restriction, Airbnb worked closely with the Province to ensure that short-term rentals remained an available resource during the crisis, including for frontline responders, other workers requiring isolation and those sheltering in place during the crisis.”
Those programs include Frontline Stays, which offers bedspace to those on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, and recent steps to ban party houses from the platform.
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
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