San Francisco is the birthplace of the "sharing economy," according to Mayor Ed Lee, who took action Monday to keep it that way.
The mayor on Monday signed into law legislation that legalizes the renting-out of apartments for short periods of time. That means rentals reserved via Airbnb, which is based in San Francisco, are now legal.
The new rules, which take effect Feb. 1, require anyone renting out rooms to register with the city. They must also pay hotel taxes and carry liability insurance.
The city's rental laws had previously outlawed rentals of less than 30 days.
Regulating "homesharing," as Lee termed the use of Airbnb and other websites to turn one's home into a temporary hotel alternative, helps San Francisco stay "at the forefront of nurturing" the "emerging, more sustainable sharing economy," the mayor said Monday.
Airbnb rentals are now subject to the hotel tax as well as other oversight under legislation written by Board of Supervisors president David Chiu.
Full-time short-term rentals are outlawed, meaning a resident must live in their home at least two-thirds of the time in order to list it on Airbnb.
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“This legislation prohibits people from converting units in to full- time hotel rooms,” supervisor Scott Wiener said. “You have to live in the unit. This is for people who are San Francisco residents, who have an extra room, they are trying to make some extra money.”
Not everyone is happy about the new regulations. Protesters laid flowers outside the mayor’s office, saying they are mourning the loss of the city’s neighborhoods.
The protesters say, in a city that is struggling with an affordable housing crisis, the rentals should be used by those who most need it.
