Klein blasts Airbnb rentals

State Sen. Jeff Klein has taken yet another stab at Airbnb, accusing the popular short-term rental service of peddling “rooms of doom.” 

The service, which allows people to rent or lease out vacation accommodations, has been a target of criticism by realtor companies around the country and the globe. Realtors and hotel operators are among significant contributors to Mr. Klein’s campaign. 

Among the 110 Airbnb accommodations the report denounced as hazardous or illegally overcrowded, only one is located in the Bronx – the borough that Mr. Klein represents. The others were mostly in Brooklyn, followed by Queens and Manhattan, according to a statement published on Mr. Klein’s page on the state senate website. 

Mr. Klein co-authored the report together with state Sen. Diane Savino, a member of the Independent Democratic Conference that Mr. Klein leads, and Marisol Alcantara, the Democratic nominee to replace state Sen. Adriano Espaillat. 

“The Independent Democratic Conference’s investigation examined advertisements on Airbnb for parties of 13 or more,” the politicians said in a joint statement, published on the state Senate’s website. 

The politicians’ teams found 110 hosts in the city offering apartments and homes to groups of 13 or more, and some of the hosts had “configured their places in stunning ways — with air mattresses lined on kitchen floors, beds in laundry rooms and bunk beds in a dining room,” the statement read. 

There are roughly 44,000 active advertisements in New York State on Airbnb. Among the 110 listings criticized by Mr. Klein and his allies, 91 of the listings were offered for overnight stay, while the rest were being rented out for events. 

The sole facility in the Bronx criticized in the report was a bed-and-breakfast in Pelham Bay, the politicians’ statement said. Dubbed Fenton Lounge 2.0, the rental is a reincarnation of the Fenton Lounge in Morris Heights that Mr. Klein had shut down in December 2015 for throwing massive parties, the statement said. 

The apparently overcrowded rentals present “a case of Airbnb and the rentals of doom,” Mr. Klein said in a statement. 

“It’s frightening to see listings where guests are offered dangerous accommodations that violate state and city housing codes. We must take legislative action to prevent potential tragedy that could occur from illegally packing people into spaces and hold sites like Airbnb accountable,” he said. 

In a borough where both noise complaints and housing problems are widespread, and where only one Airbnb listing was found to be troubled, it was not immediately clear why Mr. Klein went after the short-term rental service with such fervor. Mr. Klein’s office did not respond to a request for comment. 

The attack, however, is likely to receive the approval of real estate companies and hotel operators, who have been fighting against Airbnb for some time. 

Recently, the state Senate has already passed a bill to make it illegal to rent an entire home or house on Airbnb, and Mr. Klein recently announced new legislation to illegalize short-term rentals of one- and two-family homes.  

Klein for New York has received $6,500 from hotel activist groups between February and July this year, and another $2,500 from real estate groups during the same period.

Mr. Klein’s biggest supporters in the hotel industry are the New York City Hospitality Alliance, a broad based organization of hotels, bars and restaurants, and Hotel and Motel Trades Council, the industry union of hotel workers.

According to an Airbnb spokesperson, only 0.00025 percent of advertisements in the state were shown to be dangerous or overcrowded. Airbnb has also been taking steps to monitor privately run hotel-type facilities, and have removed more than 3,000 listings from the website this year, a spokesperson told The Press in an emailed statement. 

“The overwhelming majority of hosts in New York share their own home as a way to earn a bit of extra money and keep up with the rising cost of living in the city,” Peter Schottenfels, the spokesperson, said. “We are eager to work with lawmakers, including the IDC, to find a sensible solution that will allow New Yorkers to responsibly share their primary home and crack down on commercial operators.”