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Ald. Quinn introduces ordinances to extend Airbnb Ban in 13^th Ward

Chicago Ald. Marty Quinn today introduced two ordinances that further support his constituents’ request to ban home-sharing services like Airbnb from operating in the 13^th ward. To date, Quinn has banned Airbnb and other home-sharing services from 40 out of 48 precincts in his ward. His goal is to ban home-sharing services from all 48 precincts in the ward.

The first ordinance requests that residents receive the full 90-day period to circulate and file petitions to opt out of Airbnb services once the state emerges from the stay-at-home order in place due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The second ordinance seeks to include penalties on Airbnb hosts who operate in 13^th ward precincts that have opted out of allowing home-sharing services. Quinn’s ordinance would include a fine of as much as $5,000 per offense.

13th Ward Democratic Committeeman Michael J. Madigan and 13th Ward And. Marty Quinn. Photo courtesy of Madigan-Quinn website

“My constituents have consistently raised concerns with home-sharing services and the problems that can come along with them,” Quinn said. “Residents have shared accounts of violence, vandalism and other issues with home-sharing services that they want to keep out of the neighborhood.”

Recent media accounts have detailed a variety of complaints against Airbnb and its hosts, including a chaotic scene in suburban Naperville on Super Bowl Sunday that has caused lasting damage in the community.

In order to ban home-sharing services from a given ward, the process begins at the precinct level. A resident from the precinct must file a petition with the city clerk’s office asking to opt out of home-sharing services. The petition requires signatures from 25 percent of all registered voters in the precinct within 90 days for the precinct to officially opt out.

Quinn first banned Airbnb from four precincts in the 13^th ward in June 2017 after several incidents occurred with rental guests in the neighborhood. To date, 8,392 residents of the 13^th ward have signed the petition to ban temporary room and housing rentals.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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