 Matt McLaughlin has been out of the man of World One for four years. He says the number of short-term rentals keeps rising. My neighborhood in particular is very much affected by this, more than the rest of the city. McLaughlin said some people would buy a house in Somerville and use it exclusively as Airbnb. You know, if you got bought by somebody who didn't want to live here, they could make it into an Airbnb and now that house is off the market and then I have a new neighbor every week and maybe some weeks the neighbors are okay, maybe some weeks they're out of line. Like many cities near Boston, Somerville has a housing crisis. Rent and home prices are rising, meaning that middle-class and working-class families are being forced out. Many short-term rentals are partially to blame. It's a cool concept and it's very useful and efficient for people, but you don't want entire communities to be Airbnb's and you don't want to see people get displaced. That's my number one concern is the displacement of people. To address that concern, McLaughlin has proposed a new ordinance that would target those properties that have become hotels. It would force homeowners to get permission to rent. But Airbnb host Peter Cattidone says that would be overkill. He rents out one room. I'm not into traveling, you know, so it's nice to have everyone come to me. Cattidone has been renting out one room for two years. I don't understand why they would want to regulate that. I mean, what's the reason for it? What are they afraid of? But some residents have noise and safety concerns. Because I have a one-year-old son and if we have too many random guests coming in and out from the apartment, I will feel very unsecure and uncomfortable. McLaughlin says his intention is not to crack down on all short-term rentals, just the types that should be treated like hotels. He says they should be inspected and taxed. We're definitely not trying to do anything to people who live in their homes and choose to use Airbnb occasionally. It's about people who, absentee landlords, who have their home and they use it exclusively for Airbnb. You're a hotel and you're getting away with not paying like a hotel would, so I do think they should be taxed accordingly like that. According to McLaughlin, Cambridge has a good ordinance. Airbnb hosts have to live in their rental buildings. In Somerville, hosts are free to live elsewhere, often only showing up when they get in the trouble with city inspectors, he said. The draft of our new ordinance has been discussed several times at Alderman meetings. According to Alderman McLaughlin, there is no telling when the final decision will be made. For BU News Service, I'm Jordan Du.