While the "sharing economy" is redefining how Americans interact with each other, a handful of Northeast Ohio communities are temporarily banning the home-sharing app Airbnb while they consider regulations for it to operate in their communities.
After a January party at an Airbnb rental in Seven Hills, Ohio destroyed a home, leaders are rethinking the regulations they're putting in place for short-term rentals.
"That's the extreme," said Lyndhurst Mayor Patrick Ward. "But what it does is call to mind the worst case scenario."
Mayor Ward says the RNC kicked off a wave of Airbnb listings in smaller cities. Some outdated posts still on the website post luxury accommodations for people coming to town just for the convention.
In late 2016, Lyndhurst enacted a moratorium on Airbnb listings until they could come up with their own set of rules. That resulted in Airbnb properties in Lyndhurst having to be on at least a 1-acre lot, with a permit from the city.
Lyndhurst's ordinance has already been requested by a group connecting other Mayors in the region, presumably so they can look at exactly what Lyndhurst put in place. Seven Hills could put a moratorium in place to consider their own regulations, and Broadview Heights has a moratorium in place right now.
Airbnb data says Broadview Heights hasn't had a listing in the past calendar year. Instead, the company is much more focused on bigger rental areas, like Cleveland. They directed us to the rules Cleveland passed in 2016, creating a way to register and tax the rentals, as an example of how some regulation can work.
