One- and two-family homes make up more than 28 percent of the city’s housing stock and just over 14 percent, or 320,000 units, of its rental stock, according to the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OR).
The bills, sponsored by two Brooklyn Council members, Mercedes Narcisse and Farah N. Louis, are intended to provide financial assistance to minority homeowners who struggle to stay in their homes and rely on home sharing to pay their mortgages and household expenses.
Still, council member and committee chairwoman Pierina Ana Sanchez opened the hearing by saying she had serious concerns about creating exceptions for one type of property that could ultimately make short-term rental rules difficult to enforce.
“What seems like small language changes could fundamentally change the way we use our homes,” Sánchez said.
Additionally, she said she was bothered by language that treated one group of tenants as more desirable than another. “We have to be careful not to fall into narratives [that] treat renters as unreliable, unlike tourists,” she said.
‘People are losing their homes’
In dramatic testimony, Councilmember Narcisse asked the House to address “the elephant in the room”: Black and brown people losing their homes because of… expenditures of as little as $5,000, she said.
Its legislation, Int. 948, would expand the number of guests from two to four, allow hosts to put locks on interior doors and allow owners to host without being present for short-term stays.
“For so many New Yorkers, especially in my community, this issue is personal. It’s about whether a longtime homeowner can afford to stay in the home they worked so long to build. They need this lifeline,” she said.
The other piece of legislation Int. 1107, is sponsored by Councilor Louis and changes general household requirements so that landlords do not have to provide access to private spaces.
She explained that her legislation works in collaboration with Int. 948 when the owner is not physically present and reiterated that the goal is to end a crisis for minority owners.
“We need to preserve Black homeownership in the city. This is urgent, necessary legislation to keep Black owners in their homes,” she said, noting that Canarsie and Flatbush, which have a large population of Black owners, have seen a high number of evictions.
The number of foreclosures in New York rose 16 percent in the third quarter of this year to 412 first-time home bankruptcy filings, according to an October study. report from PropertyShark.
‘Open the floodgates’
In his remarks at the hearing, Christian Klossner, executive director of OSE, said both bills “risk reversing the significant gains made under Local Law 18.”
This local law created a registration system to enforce the city’s longstanding ban on short-term rentals of less than 30 days and requires short-term listing sites to verify registration status. Local Law 18 also has the List of prohibited buildings, which now totals over 21,000.
“While both bills suggest they apply only to one- and two-family homes, each changes the definition of ‘family’ in city law. Changing the definition of ‘family’ would apply to every home in the city, not just one- and two-family homes,” Klossner said.
He argued that Int. 948 would “open the floodgates to unhosted short-term rentals” and also incentivize investors to buy large properties to take advantage of the increased number of short-term renters.
The bills also conflict with the city’s safety requirements, Klossner said. One- and two-family homes are exempt from safety measures such as sprinklers and fire alarms that are directly connected to the fire department. The bills would eliminate the requirement for a permanent resident to know the layout and locations of exits and allow for more locked interior doors, which pose risks to both residents and firefighters, he said.
Testimony for and against
Several hundred New Yorkers registered to testify on the changes to short-term rental laws, but had to wait several hours while the committee focused on other matters.
Some speakers expressed concerns about reversing the effectiveness of Local Law 18. Darius Khalil Gordon, executive director of the Meet Housing Council, spoke out against the bills’ ability to take rental units off the market. “Every residential unit is important,” he says.
But several supporters of the legislation pointed out that renting out their owner-occupied properties would not affect the level of rental units.
Gia Sharp, co-founder of Restore the autonomy and rights of homeowners, a coalition representing more than 700 homeowner households denounced the “false narrative that private homes are part of the housing stock.”
One speaker reminded the committee that the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Without changes to New York’s short-term rental rules, the city is essentially telling “five million visitors to stay in New Jersey,” she said.
Laurie, who has been a homeowner for 33 years and hosts short-term guests to make ends meet, was blunt. “Why is it anyone’s business who I share my house with?” she asked.
Only 3,000 active registrations
In September, OSE said the vast majority of illegal short-term rental activity in NYC has been eradicated, two years after major booking companies began complying with Local Law 18.
Compared to an estimated 60,000 illegal listings on major booking platforms in 2018, and over 38,000 active listings on a single site in early 2023, OSE says there are now only 3,000 active short-term rental registrations in the city.
In his annual report Regarding local legislation18, OSE said it approved 40 percent of registration applications received last year and the average review time was less than a week. The report also noted that more than 4,300 applications were denied because they did not comply with the city’s short-term rental laws.
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