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> negative externalities that Airbnb has on rental vacancy and land values Is that an externality of AirBnB or poor city planning? Cities are eager to build of

> negative externalities that Airbnb has on rental vacancy and land values Is that an externality of AirBnB or poor city planning? Cities are eager to build offices and advertise to attract tourists, but convince themselves they don't need more residential construction. Fixing the underlying cause will work better than banning the symptom.

jedberg 7y ago
> Is that an externality of AirBnB or poor city planning? I'd say both. Poor city planning leads to it happening, but AirBnB exacerbates the problem. And for a politician, regulating AirBnB is much easier and a lot more understandable by the electorate. Explaining how they should be reelected because of changes they made to fundamental housing policy that will take 30 years to materialize is a hard sell.
- cheriot 7y ago
  It doesn't take 30 years to build new homes. As soon as California forced cities to allow ADUs they were built in large numbers. Add duplexes, three plexes, etc and we'll get even more. The thing about regulating symptoms is that it's cathartic without accomplishing much.
  - jedberg 7y ago
    It doesn't take 30 years to build, but it takes 30 years for enough people to sell land and enough builders to buy land and then build to make any difference. I was reading an article about a city that was upzoned in the 70s which I can't find now, but the gist of it was that everyone was worried the upzoning would change everything. In reality, in the 40 years since, only a few single family homes were torn down and replaced with multi-unit dwellings. Most of the land sales were still from one single family owner to another.
    - cheriot 7y ago
      I think I read the same article (Portland?). The key thing is that the change was slow because demand was building up slowly. OTOH, if changes are held back for decades and demand is pent up (ie soaring prices and increasing commutes) then there's going to be a surge once changes are allowed. ie SF will see a far bigger, faster change than other places. It's precisely the places that have a huge pent up demand for housing that have the biggest problem with Airbnb.

jedberg 7y ago

> Is that an externality of AirBnB or poor city planning? I'd say both. Poor city planning leads to it happening, but AirBnB exacerbates the problem. And for a politician, regulating AirBnB is much easier and a lot more understandable by the electorate. Explaining how they should be reelected because of changes they made to fundamental housing policy that will take 30 years to materialize is a hard sell.

cheriot 7y ago
It doesn't take 30 years to build new homes. As soon as California forced cities to allow ADUs they were built in large numbers. Add duplexes, three plexes, etc and we'll get even more. The thing about regulating symptoms is that it's cathartic without accomplishing much.
- jedberg 7y ago
  It doesn't take 30 years to build, but it takes 30 years for enough people to sell land and enough builders to buy land and then build to make any difference. I was reading an article about a city that was upzoned in the 70s which I can't find now, but the gist of it was that everyone was worried the upzoning would change everything. In reality, in the 40 years since, only a few single family homes were torn down and replaced with multi-unit dwellings. Most of the land sales were still from one single family owner to another.
  - cheriot 7y ago
    I think I read the same article (Portland?). The key thing is that the change was slow because demand was building up slowly. OTOH, if changes are held back for decades and demand is pent up (ie soaring prices and increasing commutes) then there's going to be a surge once changes are allowed. ie SF will see a far bigger, faster change than other places. It's precisely the places that have a huge pent up demand for housing that have the biggest problem with Airbnb.