San Francisco rejects effort to restrict Airbnb

Voters in San Francisco squashed a ballot measure Tuesday that would have restricted Airbnb rentals in the city.

Fifty-five percent of voters opposed the measure with 45 percent in support, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The ballot measure, known as Proposition F, restricted the number of nights in a year that hosts on platforms like Airbnb could rent their rooms. The websites would have had to enforce the rule.

{mosads}It also increased the amount of money that could be awarded in lawsuits filed against people who violated the rules.

The measure was backed by affordable housing advocates concerned that the rise of Airbnb is choking off the supply of housing available to long-term renters in the city. They said that existing regulations for short-term rentals were not effective.

Their efforts were met with forceful opposition from Airbnb and its backers. The company spent more than $8 million fighting the measure, The Associated Press reported. The measure was also opposed by Mayor Ed Lee — who is considered an ally to the tech industry.

The measure split voters and led to a heated debate ahead of the vote.

“Voters stood up for working families’ right to share their homes and opposed an extreme, hotel-industry-backed measure,” a company spokesperson told the Chronicle about the vote.

The results of the vote were being closely watched not only in San Francisco, where some say that tech companies have driven rents up and longtime residents out, but around the country.

San Francisco is far from the only locality where Airbnb is controversial, and policymakers nationwide are still trying to figure out how to regulate the fast-growing on-demand economy.