This week, the Airbnb platform began removing advertisements for properties intended for social housing in the capital of São Paulo. Donos apartments started receiving notifications about possible irregularities and risk of deletion of their ads on the website. The action comes after a decree from the São Paulo city hall which, since May 2025, prohibits Habitação units from Interesse Social (HIS) from being used for short-term rentals.
Conforme statement sent to hosts, the company said that it “has begun analysis of possible irregularities in accommodations advertised on the platform in the city of São Paulo, based on the official listing provided on this date by Prefeitura of São Paulo”. The company stated that “in the coming days, hosts who have irregular ads will receive a notification from the platform with details about the removal of their ads.” The statement was sent last Monday (4).
Municipal Decreto and fraud in affordable housing
The decree was established after the discovery of a fraud scheme by construction companies. At the end of March, the city hall sent Câmara Municipal a list of real estate projects approved with municipal incentives for the production of housing for the low-income population. Essa list is being used by the platform to identify properties that do not comply with legislation.
The Airbnb measure comes eight months after Câmara Municipal established a Comissão Parlamentar by Inquérito (CPI) to investigate possible irregularities in the use of properties intended for popular housing. Sílvia Ferraro, coverer of PSOL’s Bancada Feminista, stated that the ads were removed due to pressure from the CPI. “The removal of irregular advertisements will only occur under pressure from the HIS CPI, which made many complaints and charged both the platforms and Prefeitura,” he said.
In an official note, the company reiterated its support for the allocation of social housing units to families who need them and said that it will continue to collaborate with compliance with the municipality’s housing policy.
Planilha from city hall with inconsistencies
Apesar that Prefeitura of São Paulo sent the list of HIS properties to the CPI, councilors claim that the information provided contains a series of inconsistencies that could make correction by the platforms unfeasible. The material consists of a spreadsheet with data from 3,874 residential developments licensed in the capital between January 2020 and February 2026, totaling 507,200 housing units.
The units are divided into four categories:
- 68,410 units of Habitação of Interesse Social 1 (HIS-1) for families with income up to 3 minimum wages
- 304,645 units of Habitação of Interesse Social 2 (HIS-2) for families with income up to 6 minimum wages
- 59,956 units of Habitação of Mercado Popular (HMP) for families with income up to 10 minimum wages
- 74,189 residential units without allocation by income bracket
Problemas house identification
Para each of the thousands of addresses, the city provided a link that should lead to the map of the units in the buildings. The report found that these details are unavailable in many cases. The numbering of the houses listed may not correspond to that adopted by the condominiums after their incorporation. Durante the registration and institution of the condominium, the unit numbers can be changed according to criteria specific to the incorporation process.
Silvia Ferraro pointed out that such numbering “may not correspond to that adopted in the project after its incorporation, since, at this stage, the unit numbers can be changed and defined according to criteria specific to the process of incorporation, registration and institution of the condominium”. Councilor Nabil Bonduki (PT), vice-president of the CPI, considered the spreadsheet not very functional for inspection. Conforme he, the material delivered is not a clear list of housing units, but a compilation with inconsistencies, gaps and confusing organization. “In practice, identification depends on manual work, case by case, making any attempt at effective inspection unfeasible. Do as it stands, it is impossible to automate the removal of illegal advertisements or even carry out a minimally efficient conference”, stated Bonduki in a post on the social network X.
Ausência data and operational difficulties
Outro The problem pointed out by parliamentarians is the lack of data on properties licensed before 2020. The lack of previous information creates gaps in the inspection of older properties registered as social housing. Vereador Rubinho Nunes (União Brasil), president of the CPI that investigates deviations in social housing, was approached to comment on the material presented by the Ricardo Nunes (MDB) management, but preferred not to comment on the matter.
The operation of Airbnb demonstrates collaboration with municipal authorities, but raises questions about the effectiveness of oversight while data inconsistencies remain. The platform began analyzing properties on April 27, as reported in its communication to São Paulo hosts.
