Pittsburgh City Council looks to regulate Airbnb, other short-term rentals after deadly weekend shooting

Legislation that will be introduced to Pittsburgh City Council Tuesday aims to regulate Airbnb and other short-term rental units in the city, after two teenage boys were killed and eight others were injured in a shooting at an Airbnb rental property in the city’s North Side over the weekend.

The legislation would require anyone operating an Airbnb or similar short-term rental unit to get a license from the city’s Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections. They will need to provide contact information where officials can get in touch with them if issues arise at the rental property, along with other information like the maximum number of guests permitted for each short-term rental.

Licenses would have to be renewed annually.

Property owners would also need to keep a log of guests who enter the property — including their names, addresses and phone numbers — which they would have to provide to city code enforcement officers, if they requested it.

“Currently, short-term rental properties aren’t regulated,” Councilman Bobby Wilson, who represents the area where the recent Airbnb shooting took place, said. “This provides us an avenue for us to require a license to operate one.”

The shooting last weekend occurred at a party with about 200 guests, many juveniles. Wilson said ensuring such tragedies don’t happen again requires more than a license for Airbnb operators, and pushed for increased funding for violence prevention efforts.

“I’m holding myself much more accountable than just this one measure that’s being done,” Wilson said.

Still, he said, regulating short-term rentals is “an important step.”

Wilson is sponsoring the legislation with Councilwomen Theresa Kail-Smith and Deb Gross.

Kail-Smith said the measure has been in the works for about two months, and similar legislation had been contemplated in the past. The recent shooting at an Airbnb property is hardly the first red flag that has come from such short term rental operations, she said.

In her district and throughout the city, Kail-Smith said, there have been repeated reports of people hosting loud parties at Airbnb sites, and residents have called the police about suspected drug use and illegal parking at the rental properties.

“There are all kinds of things they have called the police for,” she said. “It was just one issue after another.”

Kail-Smith said regulating who owns and operates short-term rentals, and who is in them, would help police and other local officials to get in touch with the proper people when there are problems at the properties.

“It gives us a contact person, some place to work with,” she said.

Airbnb has been in touch with Wilson and his team to support his efforts to develop short-term rental regulations, the company said.

“Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we strongly support and stand ready to work with Councilmember Wilson and the City of Pittsburgh to develop short-term rental regulations,” said Theo Yedinsky, director of global policy for Airbnb.

The company said the guest who booked the Airbnb where the weekend shooting took place has been permanently banned from Airbnb, and they plan to pursue legal action against the individual.

Airbnb said they try to prevent parties at their rental locations through several measures, including their Neighborhood Support Line, where neighbors can flag parties and “party house,” a 24-hour safety team that enforces their party policies, requirements to undergo background checks to use the service in the United States and technology that restricts certain reservations based on risk factors.

The legislation that is being introduced Tuesday is likely not the final draft, Kail-Smith said, as council members are working on amendments to the measure. She urged members of the public who have concerns on the issue to reach out to their council members.