As Airbnb continues efforts to strengthen economies in cities around the globe, they’ve now announced that former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will be the newest member to join their Mayoral Advisory Board.
Established in 2016, the Mayoral Advisory Board will provide a space where Airbnb can work with city officials to receive guidance on how the thriving company can better meet and exceed the needs of various cities through their established partnerships. Rawlings-Blake, who saw a significant decrease in Baltimore’s unemployment rate and a drastic increase in job creation under her leadership as mayor, says she’s looking forward to what’s ahead.
“In my six years as Mayor of the City of Baltimore, I saw firsthand the positive impact that tourism and visitors have on a community,” she said in a statement. “While I have left office, promoting economic development that helps the middle class remains one of my top priorities. That’s why I am excited to join Airbnb’s Mayoral Advisory Board, and eager to work with Mayors and other electeds around the world to ensure cities can benefit from Airbnb.”
Together with their Community Compact initiative, the company will aim to meet the following objectives with the newly-formed Board:
- Treating every city personally and helping ensure our community pays its fair share of hotel and tourist taxes
- Being transparent with our data and information with cities to help them understand local home sharing activity
- In cities where there is a shortage of long-term housing, working with our community to prevent short-term rentals from impacting the availability of long-term housing by ensuring hosts agree to a policy of listing only permanent homes on a short-term basis
In addition to her tenure as Mayor of Baltimore from 2010 to 2016, Rawlings-Blake has also served as President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Secretary for the Democratic National Committee.
