4 ms·

If you don't ban short-term rentals and just build housing, how does that fix the problem? People will buy it up and just put it on AirBnB.

varispeed 3y ago
Supply and demand. At one point there should be enough supply that AirBnB will bring too little profit for people to be bothered. Things like AirBnB work precisely because the supply is constrained.
- wombat-man 3y ago
  I agree we should build more housing. But in the meantime it's not helping to have a bunch of the housing stock dedicated to tourists. Now maybe banning airbnb will put such a damper on tourism that it becomes a problem, but let's deal with that problem when it happens.
  - shortrounddev2 3y ago
    > But in the meantime it's not helping to have a bunch of the housing stock dedicated to tourists Tourists bring in good tax dollars for the city since NYC has insane hotel taxes on top of the ridiculous cost of Hotels. From a moral perspective, it really shouldn't be anyone's business how a property owner decides to use their property. If they want to rent it on month-to-month leases or 12 month leases, it's up to them. If there's not enough permanent or long-term housing, then you need to deregulate NYC's byzantine zoning regulations and make it a lot easier to build whatever, wherever. Also you need to get rid of rent control; it is categorically proven to make things worse
  - varispeed 3y ago
    Now that's a one way to kill the economy...
shortrounddev2 3y ago
Then you build even more. Banning short term rentals just makes hotels more insanely expensive than they already are (cheap hotels simply do not exist in Manhattan; there are none). AirBnB satisfies one kind of demand: short term stays. Building more apartments and other housing satisfies another kind of demand. You keep building until you satisfy the demand of both
- phailhaus 3y ago
  That only works if you assume that it is possible to build quickly enough to satisfy both demands. But if you can't, then you'll just satisfy one and not the other. NYC made this calculus and prefers people to have homes over short-term stays.

varispeed 3y ago

Supply and demand. At one point there should be enough supply that AirBnB will bring too little profit for people to be bothered. Things like AirBnB work precisely because the supply is constrained.

wombat-man 3y ago
I agree we should build more housing. But in the meantime it's not helping to have a bunch of the housing stock dedicated to tourists. Now maybe banning airbnb will put such a damper on tourism that it becomes a problem, but let's deal with that problem when it happens.
- shortrounddev2 3y ago
  > But in the meantime it's not helping to have a bunch of the housing stock dedicated to tourists Tourists bring in good tax dollars for the city since NYC has insane hotel taxes on top of the ridiculous cost of Hotels. From a moral perspective, it really shouldn't be anyone's business how a property owner decides to use their property. If they want to rent it on month-to-month leases or 12 month leases, it's up to them. If there's not enough permanent or long-term housing, then you need to deregulate NYC's byzantine zoning regulations and make it a lot easier to build whatever, wherever. Also you need to get rid of rent control; it is categorically proven to make things worse
- varispeed 3y ago
  Now that's a one way to kill the economy...

shortrounddev2 3y ago

Then you build even more. Banning short term rentals just makes hotels more insanely expensive than they already are (cheap hotels simply do not exist in Manhattan; there are none). AirBnB satisfies one kind of demand: short term stays. Building more apartments and other housing satisfies another kind of demand. You keep building until you satisfy the demand of both

phailhaus 3y ago
That only works if you assume that it is possible to build quickly enough to satisfy both demands. But if you can't, then you'll just satisfy one and not the other. NYC made this calculus and prefers people to have homes over short-term stays.