Urban Planning professor Paavo Monkkonen is attracting attention in the media for his work on a new report commissioned by the home-sharing service Airbnb.

In interviews with the LA Times and with “AirTalk” on KPCC-FM, Monkkonen has spoken about his analysis of an Airbnb study that documents the scale of the company’s impact on housing prices in Southern California. The study finds that short-term rentals occurring through peer-to-peer sharing on Airbnb make up a small portion of the region’s housing inventory.

Airbnb conducted this study in response to report written by Roy Samaan MA UP ’11 for LAANE. Monkkonen argues that the focus on the housing supply impacts of Airbnb distracts us from the more important causes of the housing affordability crisis in the city.

When asked about the recent coverage of the topic, Monkkonen mentioned his pleasure at engaging with an alumnus from the school on this topic. “The discussion that LAANE and other groups initiated about Airbnb is important to have at this moment given that the City of LA is crafting an ordinance to regulate short-term rentals.”