San Francisco reaches settlement with Airbnb and HomeAway to enforce short-term rental rules

San Francisco city officials on May 9 announced a settlement with Airbnb and HomeAway that the city said will enforce the city's short-term rental rules and reduce the number of unlawful listings that have been linked to evictions and housing loss.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the agreement dismisses the federal lawsuit the platforms had filed and creates a technical "pass-through" registration system by which prospective hosts can submit registration information directly from a platform to the city's Office of Short Term Rentals (OSTR). The platforms will also provide the city a monthly dataset of San Francisco listings to enable verification and enforcement, and will deactivate listings the city deems invalid or linked to unregistered or illegally converted units.

Herrera described the settlement as phased: the parties expect a technology build to take about 120 days and a broader phase-in that will complete within 240 days; the city will prioritize suspected bad actors (for example, units in which tenants were evicted via the Ellis Act) for early compliance checks. He said the settlement also preserves enforcement options, including monetary penalties for violations of city law.

The announcement included several elected officials and advocates. Former Supervisor David Campos, who helped write earlier rules, described the result as a victory for tenants and neighborhoods that were losing housing to short-term rental conversions. Supervisors and coalition members urged that the Office of Short Term Rentals be adequately staffed for enforcement during the implementation phase.

City staff provided numbers in the presentation: the Office of Short Term Rentals had about 2,100 registered hosts at the time of the announcement, while the platforms listed an estimated 8,000 San Francisco units — a gap the settlement aims to close through platform cooperation and city enforcement.

During a question-and-answer period, officials said the platforms face potential fines and liability under city law for failure to comply and that the pass-through system would allow the city to collect registration applications and fees electronically while retaining authority to verify and enforce requirements.

Officials said the U.S. District Court will retain jurisdiction during implementation to resolve disputes. The settlement, Herrera said, was designed to preserve the board of supervisors' authority to pursue further legislation if necessary and to make it easier for legitimate hosts to register and follow the law.