Over 1,000 homes and apartments that are currently available to rent through Airbnb in Dublin city could be contributing to the lack of rental stock and the current homeless crisis in the city.

According to InsideAirBnB.com, a website that was set up in San Francisco to compile information and statistics about housing stock rented out through Airbnb, a total of 1,469 homes/apartments are currently available to rent in the Dublin city council area alone, with 1,682 homes/apartments available to rent around Dublin.

This figure does not include homes that have a private or shared room to rent alongside the occupants of the home. A total of 3,773 homes/apartments currently have private or shared rooms to rent via Airbnb around Dublin.

The website says that Dublin city has a 72.4 percent availability, meaning that of the 1,469 homes/apartments available to rent in Dublin, a high amount are available to rent for more than 90 days per year.

Declan O’Brien, secretary of the Temple Bar Residents Association, said he has noticed a marked increase in the number of apartments to rent through Airbnb in Temple Bar over the last 12 months.

“To put things in perspective, currently on Daft.ie there is about 1,200 houses and apartments available to rent in Dublin. This is a serious issue but no one seems to be talking about it,” O’Brien said.

“In our building, in Temple Bar, there is only three apartments and we’ve all been here for a long time.

“We’re seeing apartments across from us being let out through Airbnb all the time now and certainly over St. Patrick’s weekend and over the Christmas period there was major anti-social behavior because some of the units were let out to groups of young people.

“What’s affecting us more though is we’re seeing long term neighbors moving out and rather than getting new tenants in, the owners are putting their apartments up on Airbnb. There’s a whole community issue going on here and it’s very hard to maintain a community in the area.”

In response to statistics compiled by InsideAirBnB.com a spokesperson for Airbnb said, “We’ve met countless Airbnb hosts and seen how home sharing has helped them pay their bills, avoid eviction and stay in their homes.

“The typical Ireland Airbnb host earns €2,600 per year by sharing space in their home for 46 nights per year.

“They aren’t taking houses off the market, they are sharing their homes and the cities they love, and using the additional income to help pay the bills.”

- Dublin Gazette.