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I live in SF and I have no issue with landlords evicting tenants who were being AirBnB hosts. Realize that: 1) The housing market in SF is crazy right now (obv

by jcdavis 14y ago

I live in SF and I have no issue with landlords evicting tenants who were being AirBnB hosts. Realize that: 1) The housing market in SF is crazy right now (obviously this is hardly their fault) 2) There are thousands of available AirBnB rooms available in SF. A quick search far out returns over 2700 - thats 2700 (or more) rooms that people could be living in. 3) San Francisco has very strict rent control (whether or not that is a good thing is out of the scope of this comment), so in many cases tenants are reaping far more money from Airbnb then they pay in rent because their rent effectively hasn't increased, ever. This is absurdly disfunctional. 4) Regardless of laws, short term rentals are already against more or less against every lease agreement or HOA agreement. I really couldn't care less about the hotel industry.

woah 14y ago
#3 is a good point. I agree on the overblown rent control laws here.
bitcartel 14y ago
Worth watching: Growing up poor in San Francisco. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/poor-kids/seras-story/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/poor-k...
- weisser 14y ago
  This is heartbreaking. This 11 year old girl seems extremely gifted. Her vocabulary and insight in astounding. She could be the next great innovator or artist but we don't do enough to help people like her act on their potential.
jvm 14y ago
#1, #3 are all different ways of saying that the housing supply in SF is very tight. That's a situation where creating more supply by renting out your room when you go on trips can be really helpful. Supply goes up, demand stays the same, rents fall. #2 I think is an exaggeration of what's happening. Most places listed on AirBNB are occupied by owners putting their place up when they leave town. A few maybe not, but even in that case, why favor long-term renters over short-term renters? #4 is a great point, but insurmountably restrictive laws make things worse by not allowing people to come to negotiated agreements with their landlords on using AirBNB. E.g., I'm sure landlords would be more amenable if they got a cut. My take on this is that the problem here is that it's basically impossible to jump through the hoops necessary to legitimately rent out your room for a weekend, and that seems silly. You should be able to just fill out a form with the city, maybe pay a registration fee, and agree to comply with regulations.

by jcdavis 14y ago

woah 14y ago

#3 is a good point. I agree on the overblown rent control laws here.

bitcartel 14y ago

Worth watching: Growing up poor in San Francisco. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/poor-kids/seras-story/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/poor-k...

weisser 14y ago
This is heartbreaking. This 11 year old girl seems extremely gifted. Her vocabulary and insight in astounding. She could be the next great innovator or artist but we don't do enough to help people like her act on their potential.

jvm 14y ago

#1, #3 are all different ways of saying that the housing supply in SF is very tight. That's a situation where creating more supply by renting out your room when you go on trips can be really helpful. Supply goes up, demand stays the same, rents fall. #2 I think is an exaggeration of what's happening. Most places listed on AirBNB are occupied by owners putting their place up when they leave town. A few maybe not, but even in that case, why favor long-term renters over short-term renters? #4 is a great point, but insurmountably restrictive laws make things worse by not allowing people to come to negotiated agreements with their landlords on using AirBNB. E.g., I'm sure landlords would be more amenable if they got a cut. My take on this is that the problem here is that it's basically impossible to jump through the hoops necessary to legitimately rent out your room for a weekend, and that seems silly. You should be able to just fill out a form with the city, maybe pay a registration fee, and agree to comply with regulations.