8 ms·

I wish AirBnB took more responsibility for the damage they are doing to the NYC housing market

by abcdcba 8y ago

MrEfficiency 8y ago
What is your proposal?
- pjc50 8y ago
  In Edinburgh there's a similar discussion, and the proposals I think have value: 1) Tourist tax on all hotel rooms, including AirBnB. Initially a fairly small amount. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/27/edinburgh-legal-powers-tourist-tax-hotels https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/27/edinburgh-le... 2) For whole-unit owner-not-present lets, require planning permission for change of use. You wouldn't be allowed to run a woodworking business in your apartment that inflicted noise on your neighbours, so the same should apply to turning it into a hotel. 3) Keep upgrading the transport infrastructure. The newly rebuilt Border railway is a victim of its own instant success - someone should start the process of widening it to two tracks immediately so it'll be ready in 20 years. And so on. (Before someone says "build houses", there is a lot of family home construction going on in the outskirts. It's the historic centre that's under consideration, and "demolish the existing 4-6 story historic dwellings and replace them with much taller residential buildings" is an absolute non-starter)
  - jermaustin1 8y ago
    What annoys me about tourists in Edinburgh, is that everyone wants to pile into Old Town, even though it is so small. No one contemplates Leith or Newington. Neither of those places are beyond a short walk (1-2 miles) to city center, also there are more options for food and drink (especially on Leith Walk).
    - briandear 8y ago
      2 miles isn’t a “short walk” in many parts of the year in Scotland.
      - pjc50 8y ago
        This is definitely one of those things that divides locals from visitors; Edinburgh is a walker's city. I walk a mile up one way and downhill the other as part of my commute. But visitors or women in heels are not going to do that at the end of a night out, and that's also when public transport stops, all the taxis are booked, and Uber is on 3x surge pricing. The festival makes this worse; the city as a whole becomes overbooked. But the gentrification wave is heading into Leith. You can practically watch it progressing down Leith walk. I suppose the giveaway will be when someone builds a luxury hotel in the old dockyards.
      - jermaustin1 8y ago
        In most of Scotland, I would agree, but in Edinburgh where the typical low in the dead of winter above freezing, the < 2 miles from Leith to Old Town isn't that bad.
jMyles 8y ago
Well, we don't all agree that the changes are tantamount to "damage", first of all. For my part, having lived much of my adult life in New Paltz, AirBnb has greatly increased the availability of NYC housing for me, as I typically only live in NYC for 3-10 days at a time. I can understand that, if your desire is to live there perpetually for years, you might have a different perception. Perhaps living in a single place in perpetuity (especially near the center of a major metro/cosmopolitan hub) is just not as sustainable in an environment where smallish organizations like AirBnb (or the decentralized versions to come) can easily subvert statutory attempts to force a particular market outcome. Also, in NYC in particular, the role of "rent control" is worth taking into account.
- pjc50 8y ago
  > living in a single place in perpetuity Christ. Hotdesking for houses. This is already the reality for a lot of precariously-housed or non-street-homeless people. It's especially bad for children and will cost them grades at school when moving frequently.
- lancesells 8y ago
  Perhaps AirBnb should actually follow the law in NYC (30 days minimum) until they can lobby enough to change the law.
  - jMyles 8y ago
    ...why? What makes this law worth following in the first place?
    - jfk13 8y ago
      If there are communities where AirBnB is deliberately breaking the law, those cities ought to be collecting punitive fines. In a civilised society, you don't get to pick and choose which laws you think are worth following, and just ignore the rest. Don't like a given law? Then engage in the political process to seek changes to it.
    - 8y ago

I wish AirBnB took more responsibility for the damage they are doing to the NYC housing market

MrEfficiency 8y ago

What is your proposal?

pjc50 8y ago
In Edinburgh there's a similar discussion, and the proposals I think have value: 1) Tourist tax on all hotel rooms, including AirBnB. Initially a fairly small amount. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/27/edinburgh-legal-powers-tourist-tax-hotels https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/27/edinburgh-le... 2) For whole-unit owner-not-present lets, require planning permission for change of use. You wouldn't be allowed to run a woodworking business in your apartment that inflicted noise on your neighbours, so the same should apply to turning it into a hotel. 3) Keep upgrading the transport infrastructure. The newly rebuilt Border railway is a victim of its own instant success - someone should start the process of widening it to two tracks immediately so it'll be ready in 20 years. And so on. (Before someone says "build houses", there is a lot of family home construction going on in the outskirts. It's the historic centre that's under consideration, and "demolish the existing 4-6 story historic dwellings and replace them with much taller residential buildings" is an absolute non-starter)
- jermaustin1 8y ago
  What annoys me about tourists in Edinburgh, is that everyone wants to pile into Old Town, even though it is so small. No one contemplates Leith or Newington. Neither of those places are beyond a short walk (1-2 miles) to city center, also there are more options for food and drink (especially on Leith Walk).
  - briandear 8y ago
    2 miles isn’t a “short walk” in many parts of the year in Scotland.
    - pjc50 8y ago
      This is definitely one of those things that divides locals from visitors; Edinburgh is a walker's city. I walk a mile up one way and downhill the other as part of my commute. But visitors or women in heels are not going to do that at the end of a night out, and that's also when public transport stops, all the taxis are booked, and Uber is on 3x surge pricing. The festival makes this worse; the city as a whole becomes overbooked. But the gentrification wave is heading into Leith. You can practically watch it progressing down Leith walk. I suppose the giveaway will be when someone builds a luxury hotel in the old dockyards.
    - jermaustin1 8y ago
      In most of Scotland, I would agree, but in Edinburgh where the typical low in the dead of winter above freezing, the < 2 miles from Leith to Old Town isn't that bad.

jMyles 8y ago

Well, we don't all agree that the changes are tantamount to "damage", first of all. For my part, having lived much of my adult life in New Paltz, AirBnb has greatly increased the availability of NYC housing for me, as I typically only live in NYC for 3-10 days at a time. I can understand that, if your desire is to live there perpetually for years, you might have a different perception. Perhaps living in a single place in perpetuity (especially near the center of a major metro/cosmopolitan hub) is just not as sustainable in an environment where smallish organizations like AirBnb (or the decentralized versions to come) can easily subvert statutory attempts to force a particular market outcome. Also, in NYC in particular, the role of "rent control" is worth taking into account.

pjc50 8y ago
> living in a single place in perpetuity Christ. Hotdesking for houses. This is already the reality for a lot of precariously-housed or non-street-homeless people. It's especially bad for children and will cost them grades at school when moving frequently.
lancesells 8y ago
Perhaps AirBnb should actually follow the law in NYC (30 days minimum) until they can lobby enough to change the law.
- jMyles 8y ago
  ...why? What makes this law worth following in the first place?
  - jfk13 8y ago
    If there are communities where AirBnB is deliberately breaking the law, those cities ought to be collecting punitive fines. In a civilised society, you don't get to pick and choose which laws you think are worth following, and just ignore the rest. Don't like a given law? Then engage in the political process to seek changes to it.
  - 8y ago