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Brussels is seeking to bring down housing costs in Europe’s most popular cities by giving local governments the tools to rein in Airbnb and other short-term rental operators.
As part of the European Commission’s Affordable Housing Act, due to be approved on Wednesday, EU-wide rules will determine whether an area is under housing stress, and national, regional and local authorities will be given legal backing to use targeted measures to ease home shortages.
“Short-term rentals are not the cause of Europe’s housing crisis,” Energy and Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen told POLITICO. “But it’s very clear that in some parts of Europe, especially in some of our biggest cities, they are aggravating the problem.”
While registered short-term rentals officially account for around only 1.2 percent of the bloc’s overall housing stock, they can make up as much as 20 percent of homes in tourist hotspots like Porto and major European cities.
