Any Los Angelinos?

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I don’t have a dog in this show. In my city we aren’t yet regulated at all and there is no controversy that I’ve heard. But I imagine the truth is in the middle.

Airbnb is not all to blame for high rents and housing shortages and the hotel lobby is not to blame for all data showing it is. Just like research showing that foreign tourism is down since Trump became President…there are only 3 quarters of data and Trump is not the only variable. At the end of his term academics can do research and determine the effect of his regime on tourism.

Airbnb is relatively new and collecting data and having it properly analyzed and compared against other variables isn’t substantial. Having independent researchers with the means to do the studies, having cities or states even consider funding independent research, we aren’t there yet. Meanwhile, perception is reality and lots of people have negative impressions of Airbnb. They don’t want outsiders in their neighborhoods. The don’t want their neighborhoods turned into business districts. It doesn’t matter if it’s airbnb or yard sales, they want limits on them. So as you said, you think the party will end eventually, so you are getting while the getting is good.

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I think we will have to agree to disagree. You are adamant that STR’s have no impact at all on house market prices and the availability of LTRs. I disagree.

My view is in line with research carried out by city councils, academic institutions etc is that STRs do have an impact on the housing market. This is a simple supply and demand issue - by increasing demand for property by those wanting to do STR, you increase prices. By taking property off the market that was available for LTRs to use for STR you decrease the availability of LTR and push up prices.

Your point about ‘tons’ or property being available in LA is irrelevant if it is, as you admit, increasingly expensive and therefore not affordable to low paid or even average paid workers and families.

My concern is that as long as Airbnb host lobbyists refuse to acknowledge the impact of STRs on communities and local housing markets they will antagonise those communities and make it harder for people to accept their presence.

There is room for all as long as we are all willing to compromise.

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Exactly! It is too soon in the game for this level of contentious bickering and litigious action, with the latter being a knee-jerk response by politicos wanting to appease constituents…who are largely nimby groups riled up from both misinformation from skewed studies and outlandishly reprehensible targeted anti-Airbnb advertising from the Hotel Lobby.

I think the majority of hosts are responsible and want to be in sync with their local communities. In my current neighborhood where I host, there are about a dozen Air listings…and you would never know. My own guests park on my property and exit their vehicles out of the vision of any of my neighbors. I don’t want a commercial neighborhood either, and if any of these things change in the future, I will rethink hosting, but as a community activist my entire adult life, I will never allow wealthy corporate interests to rile up the people of my city with reprehensible lies, ultimately usurping my livelihood, for their own special interests.

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@Helsi, We need not agree to disagree on anything. Arguing online with strangers is futile and not my jam. I will state that I am responding to your reactionary post only to ensure you do not dilute nor dissuade the OP and their quest for justice, nor anyone else reading this who may be experiencing the same.

My post was about Los Angeles, where I hosted for ten years and was no longer able to do so, because regulations were put into place by politicians banning short term rentals altogether, even though there was never any independent data showing that they caused any housing detriment there and in fact, many had been operating for decades before the advent of Airbnb which, with its burgeoning popularity, was when this controversy began.

Our city council did not conduct their own research or studies and I have never heard of any city council that has done so outside of Manhattan, but would be very interested in seeing one, if you wouldn’t mind posting a link to what you’re citing. They went strictly on the ‘studies’ carried out by the Hotel Lobby and had a knee-jerk reaction to their aggressive lobbying which riled the public. Some of The Hotel Lobby’s tactics were to hire paid signature gatherers and post offensive ads, like the ones that say “Airbnb hosts terrorists.” It was truly despicable and we were all left dumbfounded by the blatantly corrupt nature of the campaign.

So you’ll have to excuse me if I’m a little bitter on the subject of vacation rentals in Los Angeles. We had been renting our home for over a decade and so had hundreds of others, (many for even longer), before the hotels decided to go on their smear campaign against Airbnb. There are no longer STRs at all in my former beach town, even though they were never shown to be a detriment to housing there. Not everywhere. I was not speaking about everywhere. This is a thread about Los Angeles and that was what I was addressing. Forgive me for not being clearer.

I know the truth and am not “refusing to acknowledge the impact of STRs on my community,” and to claim that a host is “antagonizing their community” by standing up for the truth is frankly outrageous. I am absolutely willing to compromise, and want the best for myself and my neighbors and community, however I will not be bullied, nor allow my neighbors and lawmakers to be lied to, cajoled or coerced, without voicing opposition.

If where I am currently hosting, STRs are shown to negatively impact housing, then I will reconsider my current income from them. That echos what every host I have ever met says. We all seem to want what is best for the communities in which we reside ourselves. I am indeed a very responsible and active member of my community and will always seek the truth on this subject and work to bring people together and discover to the joys and benefits of homesharing, instead of pointlessly arguing, creating even more division. I will also continue to espouse the facts as I know them…and to host joyfully. Thank you.

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Here is the research I referred to in an earlier post @LetsShareThoughts demonstrating contrary to your early assertion that there is a growing homeless issue in Los Angeles.

It was carried out, as I mentioned in an early post by LA homeless authority https://www.lahsa.org/

It was definitely not carried out by the hotel lobby.

And has been widely reported in the media.

http://www.laalmanac.com/social/so14.php

Anyway I have made my point, which is that compromise is key and that we need to ensure the growth of STR does not have a detrimental impact on the communities in which they are based, so won’t contribute further on this issue.

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@LetsShareThoughts I deleted your comment. A MODERATOR has already disagreed with your accusations of both trolling and “off-topic” – please read the site guidelines and terms of service.

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