European cities will gain more leeway to curb short-term rentals such as Airbnb under plans to bring down housing costs in tourism hotspots that the European Union is to unveil.
The European Commission is to lay out conditions under which local authorities can limit short lets, as part of an "affordable housing" package that seeks to address what EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has called a "social crisis".
"Nurses, teachers, and firemen cannot afford to live where they serve. Students drop out because they cannot pay the rent. Young people delay starting families," she said in a speech last year highlighting the issue as a priority for Brussels.
Though hugely popular with visitors, short-term lodgings are blamed by residents in many popular travel destinations for depriving locals of apartments for long-term rent and pushing up prices.
From New York to Tokyo and Barcelona, a growing number of cities worldwide have imposed or considered restrictions on tourist flats in recent years.
