Short-term rental platforms like Airbnb are failing cities by not only driving up rent but also hurting affordable housing across the world, says a new study released by The Left in the European Parliament.

Written by Murray Cox, the community activist behind the Inside Airbnb data project, and Kenneth Haar from Corporate Europe Observatory, ‘Platform Failures – How Short-Term Rental Platforms like Airbnb fail to cooperate with cities and the need for strong regulations to protect housing’ looks in detail at Airbnb’s existing deals with cities across Europe and America.

With case studies on Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Prague, Vienna, New York and San Francisco, the report reveals how Airbnb has driven up rents, caused damage to urban communities, and wrecked affordable social housing programmes.

With mere self regulation currently in place for these platforms, the authors calls on EU Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager – who is in charge of  the Digital portfolio – to support cities throughout Europe in dealing with this disruption.

They emphasise that only by delivering strong rules can such companies be forced to cooperate properly with city councils in the upcoming EU Digital Services Act.