Why Wild Parties, Housing Shortages & Massive Lawsuits are Leading to Big Questions about Airbnb
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Date: 2019-11-01
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Comments and reviews: 9
uninvincibleete
I have to say even as someone who travels a lot and appreciates the price/convenience of AirBnb, it should absolutely be more limited/regulated. I currently live in Vancouver, and it's a perfect example of how schemes like this decimate local economies. Homes are purchased only to be subdivided by the room and rented out at ten times the monthly cost of the property itself (by people who never inhabit the home, driving families and young working adults out of home ownership. The city has tried to support high-density housing projects, but (as you mentioned) they have trouble policing those units. The result is that whole towers become almost entirely 2nd-party rental units, uninhabitable by those who actually live in the city. As you can imagine, all of this makes the price of local real estate skyrocket (since residents have to compete with the price a property management company would be willing to pay knowing they could rent it out at a much higher vacation rate. The problem is further exacerbated by how public transit-dependant Vancouver is: most residents utilize buses and trains on a daily basis, yet housing closest to stations and transit hubs are gobbled up by mass AirBnbers, leaving only outer-circle crumbs for actual residents (who then have to take a longer commute, further taxing an already overburdened public transit system. Perhaps even more infuriating is that during less popular travel seasons many of these units simply sit empty. I'm not against individual owners renting out their property if they live there at least part of the year, and I'm certainly not against people renting out a room in their main residence to cover costs, but Vancouver is a perfect storm of absent ownership, empty units, and real estate surgery that has caused the entire housing market to spiral out of control. Even though the bulk of the population works in the heart of downtown, most can't afford to live in the city at all, let alone close enough for a reasonable commute (I'm used to hearing 2+ hours from most people. I think the key is finding a balance where the revenue generated for the city by these units levels out and can be put into local housing initiatives so that residents aren't bumped out of their own market. Unfortunately in cities like Vancouver, that balance has absolutely failed to be reached.
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I have to say even as someone who travels a lot and appreciates the price/convenience of AirBnb, it should absolutely be more limited/regulated. I currently live in Vancouver, and it's a perfect example of how schemes like this decimate local economies. Homes are purchased only to be subdivided by the room and rented out at ten times the monthly cost of the property itself (by people who never inhabit the home, driving families and young working adults out of home ownership. The city has tried to support high-density housing projects, but (as you mentioned) they have trouble policing those units. The result is that whole towers become almost entirely 2nd-party rental units, uninhabitable by those who actually live in the city. As you can imagine, all of this makes the price of local real estate skyrocket (since residents have to compete with the price a property management company would be willing to pay knowing they could rent it out at a much higher vacation rate. The problem is further exacerbated by how public transit-dependant Vancouver is: most residents utilize buses and trains on a daily basis, yet housing closest to stations and transit hubs are gobbled up by mass AirBnbers, leaving only outer-circle crumbs for actual residents (who then have to take a longer commute, further taxing an already overburdened public transit system. Perhaps even more infuriating is that during less popular travel seasons many of these units simply sit empty. I'm not against individual owners renting out their property if they live there at least part of the year, and I'm certainly not against people renting out a room in their main residence to cover costs, but Vancouver is a perfect storm of absent ownership, empty units, and real estate surgery that has caused the entire housing market to spiral out of control. Even though the bulk of the population works in the heart of downtown, most can't afford to live in the city at all, let alone close enough for a reasonable commute (I'm used to hearing 2+ hours from most people. I think the key is finding a balance where the revenue generated for the city by these units levels out and can be put into local housing initiatives so that residents aren't bumped out of their own market. Unfortunately in cities like Vancouver, that balance has absolutely failed to be reached.
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Gerren Silva
App-based innovations always face multiple challenges when entering the world market. Macro issues such as digital oversight and real estate regulation by locale can only be amended in a reactive manner. In order to better maintain control of this type of new product, you have to first witness the effects of its true potential. Much like Uber and Lyft, which spread like wildfire across the globe, it wasnt until some of their more fatal flaws were exposed that stricter guidelines were put in place. The short term rental market has achieved enough growth to where most of its data is more easily quantifiable, to include some of the more obvious dos and donts. I believe it should be comprised of individual homeowners capable of renting out only a limited number of properties at any given time. Big businesses should definitely not be allowed to capitalize on such platforms, or else that would defeat the purpose. The long term effects it has on hotels and local communities might be more manageable once the internal users and proprietors are held more accountable. Local lawmakers should feel less attacked by progress and focus more on their current housing market. Not having any sort of rent control in gouging markets like California and Hawaii may be the bigger issue driving people to engage in short term rentals in the first place, at least in America. Other markets like Europe and Asia may have different issues. Theres never going to be just one simple solution. As our economy continues to change and diversify, so should we.
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App-based innovations always face multiple challenges when entering the world market. Macro issues such as digital oversight and real estate regulation by locale can only be amended in a reactive manner. In order to better maintain control of this type of new product, you have to first witness the effects of its true potential. Much like Uber and Lyft, which spread like wildfire across the globe, it wasnt until some of their more fatal flaws were exposed that stricter guidelines were put in place. The short term rental market has achieved enough growth to where most of its data is more easily quantifiable, to include some of the more obvious dos and donts. I believe it should be comprised of individual homeowners capable of renting out only a limited number of properties at any given time. Big businesses should definitely not be allowed to capitalize on such platforms, or else that would defeat the purpose. The long term effects it has on hotels and local communities might be more manageable once the internal users and proprietors are held more accountable. Local lawmakers should feel less attacked by progress and focus more on their current housing market. Not having any sort of rent control in gouging markets like California and Hawaii may be the bigger issue driving people to engage in short term rentals in the first place, at least in America. Other markets like Europe and Asia may have different issues. Theres never going to be just one simple solution. As our economy continues to change and diversify, so should we.
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Amaya
I lived in an affordable apartment with my family in a smallish town in San Diego County for 6 years without any kinds of issues with management- then suddenly we get evicted for things arguably our fault, but then they back charge us a couple thousand dollars for damages and we had to file for bankruptcy which killed our credit. Living in San Diego County sucks because we are in the middle of a housing crisis, as in there is legitimately not enough housing for people who live here- there aren't enough affordable homes being built on top of this short term vacation rental issue. A few months later I find out the complex we were evicted from is now half AirBnB and Half Long Term Rental for the people they couldn't toss out. I'm not saying we were the perfect tenants, we were all kids in high school at the time living in that place and didn't have a good concept of what was and wasn't allowed (meaning we had a pet when we weren't supposed to, but to find out the place killed our credit so we couldn't move into anyplace but a slum lords shitty hell hole because they back charged us so much money (I'm talking they back charged for about 5 months rent when we only didn't pay for 2 so we could afford to leave) and kicked us out of our home kind of stings. IDK I just kind of feels bad that I had to leave my home and downgrade and then management turns around and turns perfectly good apartments into vacation rentals. Vacation rentals not even close to anything
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I lived in an affordable apartment with my family in a smallish town in San Diego County for 6 years without any kinds of issues with management- then suddenly we get evicted for things arguably our fault, but then they back charge us a couple thousand dollars for damages and we had to file for bankruptcy which killed our credit. Living in San Diego County sucks because we are in the middle of a housing crisis, as in there is legitimately not enough housing for people who live here- there aren't enough affordable homes being built on top of this short term vacation rental issue. A few months later I find out the complex we were evicted from is now half AirBnB and Half Long Term Rental for the people they couldn't toss out. I'm not saying we were the perfect tenants, we were all kids in high school at the time living in that place and didn't have a good concept of what was and wasn't allowed (meaning we had a pet when we weren't supposed to, but to find out the place killed our credit so we couldn't move into anyplace but a slum lords shitty hell hole because they back charged us so much money (I'm talking they back charged for about 5 months rent when we only didn't pay for 2 so we could afford to leave) and kicked us out of our home kind of stings. IDK I just kind of feels bad that I had to leave my home and downgrade and then management turns around and turns perfectly good apartments into vacation rentals. Vacation rentals not even close to anything
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Miki Mochi
I live in Japan and the way they handle it is interesting. since most of the houses are actually apartments, you need permission from the building owner before you can rent out the space, even if you own the unit. When I spoke to my husband about potentially getting into the market ourselves, he said it's quite difficult because of the restrictions in place unless you outright own the entire property. Even if it is a house, I do believe there are still some restrictions and Japan is fighting against the house sharing economy on many fronts as the hotel industry definitely doesn't like it. It's unfortunate, I think this is a great market for many people to benefit from. But there are of course issues; the people who are not respectful of the space they stay in end up ruining the experience for everyone. Not to mention, the people who buy up so many units out of greed. There's no reason why you would need more than a handful of units, in my opinion. That said, my husband and I travel frequently. We always choose air bnb over hotels. It can often be cheaper, especially when you consider what you're getting for the price. An entire apartment, instead of a single room. You give up the cleaning service in some cases but gain much more.
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I live in Japan and the way they handle it is interesting. since most of the houses are actually apartments, you need permission from the building owner before you can rent out the space, even if you own the unit. When I spoke to my husband about potentially getting into the market ourselves, he said it's quite difficult because of the restrictions in place unless you outright own the entire property. Even if it is a house, I do believe there are still some restrictions and Japan is fighting against the house sharing economy on many fronts as the hotel industry definitely doesn't like it. It's unfortunate, I think this is a great market for many people to benefit from. But there are of course issues; the people who are not respectful of the space they stay in end up ruining the experience for everyone. Not to mention, the people who buy up so many units out of greed. There's no reason why you would need more than a handful of units, in my opinion. That said, my husband and I travel frequently. We always choose air bnb over hotels. It can often be cheaper, especially when you consider what you're getting for the price. An entire apartment, instead of a single room. You give up the cleaning service in some cases but gain much more.
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TheStoneSpiral
I already live in a college town and we're being gentrified hardcore. Rent has been jumping up higher because the University is basically a party school so we get a lot of Texas kids with a lot of their parents money, so landlords here are building 'luxury' apartments and studios that cost more than some two bedrooms. I don't need a gated multiplex with a pool, spa and gym where a room cost a grand a month, I just need a place to live It's insane really. If things like AirB&B take up too much of a chunk of the other rentals left for those of us that actually live here I'll eventually have to live in a completely different area than I work. I didn't sign up to commute for half an hour from a rental. By the time I get enough to put something down on a house these real estate developers will have turned any house I could afford into a half lot sized brownstone that costs ten times what any sane person would pay for it. The government needs to grow some balls and do something or the private sector is just going to keep pricing us all out of the god damn country. Late stage capitalism sucks.
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I already live in a college town and we're being gentrified hardcore. Rent has been jumping up higher because the University is basically a party school so we get a lot of Texas kids with a lot of their parents money, so landlords here are building 'luxury' apartments and studios that cost more than some two bedrooms. I don't need a gated multiplex with a pool, spa and gym where a room cost a grand a month, I just need a place to live It's insane really. If things like AirB&B take up too much of a chunk of the other rentals left for those of us that actually live here I'll eventually have to live in a completely different area than I work. I didn't sign up to commute for half an hour from a rental. By the time I get enough to put something down on a house these real estate developers will have turned any house I could afford into a half lot sized brownstone that costs ten times what any sane person would pay for it. The government needs to grow some balls and do something or the private sector is just going to keep pricing us all out of the god damn country. Late stage capitalism sucks.
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V1DE0
I live and work in a world famous tourist and vacation town called Banff here in Canada. The whole town is run by the hotels, they control LITERALLY everything you see and do here. Here we have a HUGE homeless problem. I'm not talking about people who can't work, no these people all have full time jobs but the housing here is so expensive even when renting that you often need to choose between being homeless, not eating, or working 2-3jobs. The people who don't have to make this decision are the people who run the hotels in a way that ensure they get half of the money that the people who really do all the work should get. AirBNB and similar home sharing was one of the few remedies to the homeless problem. Yet unfortunately the big hotels see such home sharing as competition and are forcing them to close down. Home owners using their homes for home sharing are even being forced to sell their homes at a severely reduced price by the National Park to the hotels. I've been in the industry for over 10 years and I can confidently say that hotel owners HATE home sharing.
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I live and work in a world famous tourist and vacation town called Banff here in Canada. The whole town is run by the hotels, they control LITERALLY everything you see and do here. Here we have a HUGE homeless problem. I'm not talking about people who can't work, no these people all have full time jobs but the housing here is so expensive even when renting that you often need to choose between being homeless, not eating, or working 2-3jobs. The people who don't have to make this decision are the people who run the hotels in a way that ensure they get half of the money that the people who really do all the work should get. AirBNB and similar home sharing was one of the few remedies to the homeless problem. Yet unfortunately the big hotels see such home sharing as competition and are forcing them to close down. Home owners using their homes for home sharing are even being forced to sell their homes at a severely reduced price by the National Park to the hotels. I've been in the industry for over 10 years and I can confidently say that hotel owners HATE home sharing.
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funsizedaree
I had no idea South Lake Tahoe passed that ban, and honestly it was a mistake. This will mean that more families, who tend to be the ones looking for larger airbnbs to accommodate their size, will opt out if vacationing there or staying on the Nevada side. I can imagine a lot of people with vacation homes will sell since they don't be able to offset their mortgages with short term rentals, which will harm small businesses outside tourism like pharmacies and grocery stores. I know tourism is annoying for SLT residents--the traffic alone--but I can see this having major ramifications. I also feel bad for younger people who will be priced out of enjoying Tahoe-- it is SO expensive to stay in hotels, and when I was in college I could never afford to go. I teach international students at a university not far away and many pool their resources to rent a cat and an Airbnb so they can experience Tahoe. This is just taking things too far imho.
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I had no idea South Lake Tahoe passed that ban, and honestly it was a mistake. This will mean that more families, who tend to be the ones looking for larger airbnbs to accommodate their size, will opt out if vacationing there or staying on the Nevada side. I can imagine a lot of people with vacation homes will sell since they don't be able to offset their mortgages with short term rentals, which will harm small businesses outside tourism like pharmacies and grocery stores. I know tourism is annoying for SLT residents--the traffic alone--but I can see this having major ramifications. I also feel bad for younger people who will be priced out of enjoying Tahoe-- it is SO expensive to stay in hotels, and when I was in college I could never afford to go. I teach international students at a university not far away and many pool their resources to rent a cat and an Airbnb so they can experience Tahoe. This is just taking things too far imho.
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Frank Booth
AirBnB is great for the consumer, but even smaller cities and getting crunched. There isn't much in my city of 70, 000, but we are the last real city for some ways, the city relies on people who are travelling through to cottage country. 2 hotels have closed citing AirBnB as the reason, and now investors from Toronto are now buying property up in mass, converting them to short term rentals. Not only has it put two locations out of business (job loss ect, a relatively small city is now dealing with a housing crisis, Despite working full time, the idea I could rent a house, or even an apartment is a pipe dream, especially when there isn't an economy here that can offer jobs to support the ridiculously increased rental cost. The city of Peterborough acted way to late and as a result they're now trying to combat a mass exodus of people. The housing analyst on the city council was quoted as saying this will be a ghost town in 5-10 years
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AirBnB is great for the consumer, but even smaller cities and getting crunched. There isn't much in my city of 70, 000, but we are the last real city for some ways, the city relies on people who are travelling through to cottage country. 2 hotels have closed citing AirBnB as the reason, and now investors from Toronto are now buying property up in mass, converting them to short term rentals. Not only has it put two locations out of business (job loss ect, a relatively small city is now dealing with a housing crisis, Despite working full time, the idea I could rent a house, or even an apartment is a pipe dream, especially when there isn't an economy here that can offer jobs to support the ridiculously increased rental cost. The city of Peterborough acted way to late and as a result they're now trying to combat a mass exodus of people. The housing analyst on the city council was quoted as saying this will be a ghost town in 5-10 years
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silverprincess0001
Airbnb is such a huge issue. I had rented out my NYC apartment via Airbnb to two 19 year old German girls during my travels in Asia. My first day in China was basically me on international phone calls, trying to resolve the fact that they almost burned down the entire apartment building by leaving the gas on the stove (they broke it. I was in contact w the girls through Airbnb and they admitted their mistake, said they would pay for all damages. Airbnb erased the messages before I thought to screenshot, and then blocked me from their app while still traveling I was almost stranded in Sri Lanka until I finally got to them and they allowed me to stay in the booked room. I believe they were trying to save their asses by deleting the history of messages and blocking me - imagine the lawsuit if one of their guests blew up an entire building by booking through their platform.
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Airbnb is such a huge issue. I had rented out my NYC apartment via Airbnb to two 19 year old German girls during my travels in Asia. My first day in China was basically me on international phone calls, trying to resolve the fact that they almost burned down the entire apartment building by leaving the gas on the stove (they broke it. I was in contact w the girls through Airbnb and they admitted their mistake, said they would pay for all damages. Airbnb erased the messages before I thought to screenshot, and then blocked me from their app while still traveling I was almost stranded in Sri Lanka until I finally got to them and they allowed me to stay in the booked room. I believe they were trying to save their asses by deleting the history of messages and blocking me - imagine the lawsuit if one of their guests blew up an entire building by booking through their platform.
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