Hoboken May Ban Airbnb For Rent Controlled Apartments

HOBOKEN, NJ — Should Hoboken residents whose apartments are limited by Rent Control be able to make extra money renting their units via AirBnb? Some City Council members are saying no way.

The city's Rent Control Ordinance limits rent increases to the annual Cost of Living Adjustment (usually a few percent a year), with exceptions so that landlords can apply to make a return on their investment and maintain or improve the units. There's also a "vacancy decontrol" every few years if a tenant voluntarily moves out.

City Council members say occupants who are protected from landlords jacking up the rents shouldn't be profiting by renting them out nightly.

However, the city actually implemented a rule in spring 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic that no one in Hoboken should be renting their units out via Airbnb — they just haven't enforced it.

This week, councilmembers Jim Doyle and Emily Jabbour introduced legislation to prohibit apartments or housing subject to rent control from being rented through apartment-sharing applications, such as Airbnb.

The matter may be up for a vote at the City Council meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. The meeting can be viewed on the city's Facebook page.

According to a release from the council members, the proposed legislation would assess a $500 fine for a first offense, $1,250 for a second offense, and $2,000 for a third offense with the collected fines ultimately being transferred on an annual basis to the City of Hoboken’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

“The point of rent control is to protect housing that is affordable for Hoboken residents — not to allow people to make excessive income off rent controlled units,” said the pair.

Last Year's Directive

A directive from Hoboken's Office of Emergency Management issued on March 23, 2020 stated that "WHEREAS, having individuals from other areas stay in Hoboken on a short term basis unnecessarily exposes the residents of Hoboken to potentially infected people, further strains city resources, and is contradictory to our social distancing self-isolation orders," residents could not rent out their units "on a short term basis ..." defined as a period of "two consecutive months."

A subsequent state order gave towns leeway to impose their own restrictions.

A city spokesman told Patch in April 2021 that the directive was still in effect.

Other Points

Other council members said in statements Tuesday that if the city considers an ordinance such as this one, it should also look at other root issues with affordable housing, such as landlords "warehousing" affordable units, which means keeping apartments vacant while rents rise.

The press release made reference to Councilman Michael DeFusco, who has been at odds with the current administration politically. He owns his condo that he has rented out through Airbnb.

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