CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — If you rent, you know how hard it can be to find a place in the Boston-area.
But one Cambridge councilman is trying to help free up some space, specifically when it comes to setting rules and regulations about Airbnb.
Craig Kelly said the company’s popular short-term rentals are further stressing a housing market that’s already in crisis.
The proposal would restrict short-term rentals, those less than 30 days, to owner-occupied homes and apartments.
What they're concerned about is distant companies buying up properties for short-term rent in a hot housing market, which they say limits housing for people who want to live in Cambridge and not just pass through.
“We want to keep investment companies from all over the world from coming in, realizing that Cambridge is a high-value area and that they can make more money by doing short-term rental in a very popular place like mid-Cambridge or Cambridgeport, some of the places in the Boston area that have the greatest densities of Airbnb's, we want to keep that sort of thing from happening, because we'd like Cambridge housing to be more available for people who consider Cambridge to be their long-term home,” Kelly said.
City councilors have researched the issue for months and plan to discuss it further in future council meetings.