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> Berlin, like most German cities, is experiencing an acute shortage of affordable homes. Rents are rising at a rate of nearly 10 percent a year, even though th
by sisyphusprotege 9y ago
> Berlin, like most German cities, is experiencing an acute shortage of affordable homes. Rents are rising at a rate of nearly 10 percent a year, even though the city has a rent cap and has introduced one of the strictest bans on holiday apartments - many other European cities also have some kind of regulation.
From that quote I would say vacation rentals are being scapegoated. Rents are rising with one of the strictest bans on holiday apartments.
Affordable housing was a problem before AirBnB was ever conceived.
- brandur 9y agoSure, AirBnB certainly isn't the only cause of rising rents in Berlin. The city's become an incredibly attractive place to be over the last decade, and that's almost certainly the foremost reason for rent increases. But AirBnB is contributing something to those rising rents, and unlike the desirability of your city, it's something that you can control for. I (along with probably most people that share a similar position) would argue that regulating AirBnB is good, but not adequate. Pretty much every large urban development in the world (SF, London, NY, Berlin, HK, etc.) is experiencing the same problem that because they're desirable they're also automatically unaffordable. We need to figure out how to put roofs over people's heads by building much more, and much more cheaply.
- user5994461 9y agoThere are plenty of roofs for cheaper, just not in the same place everyone wants to be.