NEW YORK CITY — Tenants Not Tourists and the national coalition Dignity 2026 launched a campaign to protect renters from housing instability and unhoused residents from arrest in host cities ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The groups are pressing FIFA and city officials to develop human rights plans and ensure tenants and unhoused people are not harmed.

More than 10 million people are expected to visit the United States for the World Cup next summer. Hotels remain under-booked in the country's 11 host cities, while short-term rental listings in some host cities have increased by as much as 30% in recent weeks, with some listings reaching $6,000 a night. Airbnb is offering a $750 sign-up bonus to homeowners and landlords who become hosts during the tournament.

"We're using this period leading up to the event to strengthen networks, connect resources and build momentum," said Jennifer Li, a leader at Dignity 2026. "Right now, this is not a World Cup for the people," she added.

Last year, Airbnb pushed to lift New York City's short-term rental restrictions for the World Cup. Hundreds of New Yorkers, including union representatives, city officials and policy experts, gathered at City Hall to speak out against the bill, and the New York City Council voted to shut it down. Tenants Not Tourists cited 2018 data from the city comptroller's office indicating that approximately 9% of the citywide increase in rental rates could be attributed to Airbnb's presence at that time.

Whitney Hu, director of civic engagement and research for Churches United for Fair Housing, pointed to the timing of the 2026 tournament in relation to lease cycles. "May to August is when many New Yorkers are negotiating their leases," she said. "If New York's short-term rental restriction was lifted, that's an incentive for landlords to push tenants out and rent their places out for the World Cup," Hu added.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressed the issue of short-term rentals during the tournament period. "I continue to maintain the position that I've had, which is that we have to ensure that we allow New York City's homes to remain as homes and not become hotels, and that we have hotels for exactly that purpose," Mamdani said.

Airbnb says the U.S. affordable housing crisis is caused by the underproduction of new housing, not by short-term rentals.

After FIFA announced its World Cup schedule, Dignity 2026 called on the organization to identify human rights risks. A FIFA spokesperson said host cities would release drafts of human rights plans on a rolling basis and that FIFA is supporting this process through ongoing engagement, technical guidance and independent expert input. Only four out of 16 North American host cities have made their human rights plans public so far.