Last week, a federal judge told the city of Chicago to hold off on implementing new Airbnb ordinances - including an extra tax on hosts and a limit on the number of units that can be rented within a single building - in the wake of a lawsuit that was filed by homeowners group Keep Chicago Liveable in November.
The non-profit, which officially sued the city last month, says that these home-sharing regulations violate Airbnb hosts' constitutional rights to communicate freely on the internet and use their property as they see fit. The city, on the other hand, is attempting to generate additional revenue, while also appealing to its hotel and hospitality industries.
Yet, while certain regulations regarding home-sharing may be in flux in the coming year, one fact is painfully clear - Airbnb hosts are making money in Illinois.
According to the home-sharing platform, Illinois Airbnb hosts, which total 8,100, made a combined $73 million in supplemental income in 2016 and welcomed approximately 437,000 people to the state. The 437,000 number represents a 69 percent spike year-over-year. Chicago remains the number 3 market behind NYC and LA.
In Chicago, Airbnb hosted 380,000 people throughout 2016, driving an estimate $73 million in business to the city's restaurants. And according to the company, 95 percent of Airbnb listings in the city are outside of the downtown hotel district, "serving as a valuable economic engine for areas of the South Side and West Side that lack hotels."
Also, though Chicago is the most active Airbnb city in the state, Champaign and Urbana hosts earned a combined $459,000 in supplemental income, while Galena hosts earned $274,000, Peoria hosts earned $121,000, Rockford hosts earned $127,000 and Carbondale hosts earned $67,000.
Added Airbnb in a statement - This year, "the Chicago City Council overwhelmingly passed a new ordinance that established clear, fair rules regulating home sharing while allowing Airbnb to collect and remit occupancy taxes on behalf of its hosts. Airbnb collaborated with the State of Illinois on a deal that allowed the company to collect and remit the Illinois hotel tax in January 2016, meaning home sharing growth in Chicago benefits the entire state."
(Image via Wiki Commons)
