O'Shea Cracks Down on Online Home Sharing After Violent New Year's Eve Party

CHICAGO, IL -- A popular online home-sharing service has taken a Morgan Park property off its online platform and permanently banned the guest who arrange a New Year’s Eve party, in which three people were reportedly shot.

Airbmb removed the home in the 11200 block of South Longwood Drive, stating in a letter to Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) that it had “no tolerance for the type of behavior exhibited at the event.” The event in question involved a New Year’s Eve party arranged by an event promoter reportedly attended by as many as 100 people.

“This was a gang conflict brought to our community,” O’Shea said. “None of the people at the party were from this community.”

>>>> 4 Shot in Morgan Park on New Year's Night: REPORTS

In the early morning hours of Jan. 1, a 19-year-old man was shot in the lower back outside the home. Two other guests who had reportedly been at the same party were found with gunshot wounds blocks away from the home. A 21-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the throat, and a 20-year-old man was wounded in the shoulder. All of three party guests were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, reports said.

Two of the wounded were said to be documented gang members affiliated with the Gangster Disciples, the alderman said.

“Even before the shooting started, there was a partial floor collapse,” O’Shea said. “There was significant damage to the home.”

Immediately following the shootings, O’Shea said his office requested an inspection of the property by the Chicago Building Department’s Strategic Task Force on Drug and Gang properties. The city’s Corporation Counsel has filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court.

The homeowner who made her home available on Airbnb claims she was misled by the smooth-talking event promoter, according to O’Shea.

Airbnb is a community home-sharing network that allows people to host or book accommodations online from a tablet or mobile phone around the world. In its letter to O’Shea, Airbnb said it recently introduced a Neighbor Tool that allows community members to easily and directly notify the home-sharing service of problematic properties that create a neighborhood nuisance.

“I don’t want that in my neighborhood,” O’Shea said. “I don’t want entrepreneurs putting our single-family neighborhoods in danger.”

Last June, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance imposing more hyperlocal control over short-term rentals. Dubbed the “Airbnb ordinance,” it imposes a 21-percent tax on short-term rentals. The ordinance also requires housing platforms to submit a list of addresses in particular in specific wards to better track rental hosts, as explained by Illinois Policy.

The ordinance also includes a provision where residents have the ability to vote against having short-term rentals in their precincts, the same way residents can vote their precincts dry. Residents have 90 days to gather signatures from 25 percent of residents within their precinct and submit them to their alderman. The alderman will put the measure before the City Council for a full vote to impose an ordinance prohibiting short-term online home rentals.

O’Shea says he’s compiled information and shared it other civic organizations and neighborhood groups interested in prohibiting online home sharing in the 19th Ward. Such efforts are also being considered in the 13th and 18th wards.

“I want to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” the alderman said, who plans to get other properties under the same ownership removed from the platform. “Information will be provided to all interested parties in the next few weeks.”