Lara Hawketts and her husband live with their kids in a two-story house
in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
In 2009, Hawketts lost her job working for a British consulting firm.
Looking for ways to pick up extra income,
Hawketts discovered that she could host short-term guests for a modest fee
through a new service called Airbnb.
So they would stay in our basement
where they would, one person will be on the sofa,
two people would be in the queen bed.
We'd have a pullout couch and a day bed and the whole family would just squish up
and they didn't care.
And the experience they got from that was so different
to something you would get in a hotel.
Airbnb has seen explosive growth in Washington, D.C.,
which is among the nation’s most transient cities.
As we started meeting neighbors and friends who were like,
wow, this is so cool, it's been so great for you guys.
“How do we do it?
Oh, we don't want to get involved in all of that.
So, along with her husband, Hawketts started Home Sweet City,
a business managing Airbnb rentals for other hosts.
Today they oversee more than 60 properties...
And we just hear these amazing stories of folks that would come to the city,
save for sometimes their entire lives, bring their family
and it be there one trip of a lifetime to DC
and there was no way they could afford to stay in a hotel.
Today, a mid-scale hotel room in Washington D.C. runs on average $237 per night.
For the about the same price you can rent this centrally located four bedroom historic townhouse,
or for $110 this modern basement apartment near Capitol Hill.
Or, for travelers on a budget, there’s this twin bed in a shared room near Dulles airport for $16.
Hearing no further discussion,
all those in favor of the bill say aye, aye, opposed...
it passes unanimously.
On November 13th, with the support of the hotel Worker’s Union
and the industry’s trade group,
the DC city council passed a bill
that could have a devastating impact on the district’s short-term rental market.
Airbnb hosts can no longer rent out properties in which they don’t reside.
Those renting out their own spare rooms and couches will be required to obtain a license,
report their activities to the city on a monthly basis,
and be present during a stay, with the exception of up to 90 days a year.
City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson says the intent of the bill
is to eliminate competition from airbnb rentals,
and make it cheaper for permanent residents to live in Washington, D.C.
So we limit the short term rentals to a person's primary residence
and prohibited to a second or third property…
We think that that correlates to improving the housing supply in terms of affordability.
But there’s a danger this new bill could unintentionally wipe out the Airbnb market all together.
As the council has started to look at short term housing as a market
and what the issues might be,
there's been a little bit of a rush to regulate without realizing that D.C.s current zoning
actually prohibits short term housing in most zones.
Tracy Loh, a data scientist at George Washington University,
points out that even though most Airbnb rentals are already illegal,
the City has never enforced the zoning code.
This new law could change that.
If the city gets involved in regulating airbnb
and requires the platform to register, get a permit and share data,
then they will know where airbnb activity is happening in the city
and that means that they'll know where there are code violations.
If the zoning part of that bill, um, restricts us from renting a basement here in this way,
we probably won't be able to stay in this house.
The fact that we rent our basement so frequently, it pays two thirds of our mortgage
All 13 members have asked the zoning commission please,
In fact, on an emergency basis, we'd like you to revise their zoning regulations
to permit short term rentals in a person's primary residence.
Some of our owners have actually just said woah
you know the ones that are a little bit nervous of the situation and want to plan ahead.
They've said 'okay we're going to stop this and we're going to get a long term tenant.'
But it's very few, a couple have gone that route early,
even before it's passed or anything's passed.
And some are completely the opposite,
I'm going to do this whether they try and stop me or not, you know?
I'm just going to take the risk and run with it.
Chairman Mendelson says that airbnb hosts should embrace the new law
because, assuming the zoning code changes, it provides a legal pathway for them to operate.
There does need to be some minimum level of regulation
with regard to a kind of transient accommodation
There had been complaints about party houses
there had been complaints about how there's all this transient activity,
but the property owner isn't there.
There's not a person that has an investment in the community.
Mister McDuffie's bill made me feel like I'm back in the USSR.
The bill would make it hard if not impossible
for me to maintain my home of almost 25 years in D.C.
I've bumped into a lot of small business owners and they're bringing in their letters
And they're saying 'look I run this business, I depend on this additional income,'
So there's so many stories like that that it just can't be a bad thing,
We created a company out of necessity
and out of sheer determination and blood, sweat and tears,
we built it from nothing in a new market,
in something that has never been done before in an urban market.
And here we are and it feels like it's going to be taken away from us.
And our business might have to change but we're gonna sure as hell try and keep it going.