merridew @ merridew @feddit.uk

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2 yr. ago

There are typically limits on residential building occupancy. To put the kibosh on things like this, for example:

Landlord who packed 40 tenants in four-bed Wembley home given first ever Brent Council banning order https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-rent-landlord-banned-brent-council-letting-out-properties-b1100768.html

I assume NYC has similar regulations. If the ordinary residents are also in the property, things could get quite snug.

Oppressive regulations such as fire safety compliance?

I find this viewpoint fascinating. Like arguing that trying to put out a burning building will hurt poor people trying to keep warm.

The housing market as a whole is the problem, one which AirBnB is exacerbating. That it locally enriches those renters able to find people willing to rent out their homes -- which I'm guessing is disproportionately going to be people without elderly family members & kids -- doesn't mean it isn't detrimental to the housing market as a whole, particularly at the lower end, and to everyone who rents.

I don't think that's an ideal analogy. No-one sells meth legally.

It's more like selling people food prepared in your uninspected and potentially unsanitary kitchen, and complaining about being told to comply with the food hygiene regulations that every licensed business is required to adhere to.

For non-UK readers: UK councils have limited revenue-raising powers compared to local government in other countries, and rely on 3 sources of income:

• Central government grants
• Council tax (on residential properties)
• Business rates (on commercial properties)

This amounts to c. 7% of the total UK tax base, versus c. 32% collected locally in Germany or 50% collected locally in Canada.

Central government grants were cut by 40% in real terms between 09/10 and 19/20 from £46.5bn to £28.0bn.

Council tax has gone up 30% over the same period, but it can't go up more than 2% annually without passing a referendum (unlikely). Some councils in dire straits have recently been allowed to raise it 5%.

Local authorities have been underfunded for over a decade. Other UK councils which have already declared bankruptcy, either through running out of money, or through losing vast amounts of money in risky schemes attempting to replace missing central funding:

• Northamptonshire
• Hackney
• Slough
• Thurrock
• Croydon
• Woking

Are you, by any chance, padding your income by subletting your rental home on AirBnB?

Just not nearly so many, and with so little regulation.

Growth in home-sharing through Airbnb contributes to about one-fifth of the average annual increase in U.S. rents and about one-seventh of the average annual increase in U.S. housing prices.

Those struggling renters might not be struggling so much if other people renting out their apartments on AirBnB weren't pushing up their rent by an extra 20%.

Housing markets have problems. AirBnB is not a responsible solution to those problems.

https://hbr.org/2019/04/research-when-airbnb-listings-in-a-city-increase-so-do-rent-prices

"Not having enough money to make what you are renting out safe for occupancy" is not an acceptable defence to renting out something that is unsafe for occupancy.

Fire doors will shortly be compulsory in all AirBnB properties in the UK. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/holiday-let-owners-airbnb-measures-fire-safety-crackdown

Approximately 18,000 Airbnbs in the UK do not have smoke detectors and nearly 65,000 have no carbon monoxide alarms, according to figures from analysts AirDNA.

Shocking. Safety regulations are written in blood.

Units made available as short-term rentals must also abide by building and fire codes, including one that prohibits placing locks between rooms and having certain sprinkler and fire alarm systems on the property.

The horror.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-05/airbnb-s-new-nyc-regulations-what-renters-and-hosts-need-to-know

Evidently AirBnB is not the only problem here, and building more residential homes is needed. But

discouraging using housing as an "investment" which then discourages predatory housing practices

is exactly what is happening here. If you can buy an empty property & rent it out to tourists for a chunk of money -- with better returns than you can get on the stock market -- people with capital will cheerfully do that. Except now with these rules there's little point in them trying that in NYC.

Renters are free to continue to use AirBnB to continue to pay their rent (bans on subletting notwithstanding) as long as they're still living in it at the time.

Long term capital considerations re. investment in real estate are a separate issue. Historically, housing has not performed like this.

I tell a lie. There is, in fact, an excellent case study for what happens without zoning laws. Houston.

Let's take a look at that:

Houston Derided as the Worst City in America in New Rankings https://www.papercitymag.com/culture/houston-worst-city-in-america-new-rankings-boston-2nd-worst

Houston among U.S. cities with worst air pollution, study finds, with minority areas hit the hardest https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/cities-with-worst-air-quality-houston-pollution-17829505.php

Stats Reveal Truth About Houston's Housing Crisis https://www.texasobserver.org/houston-is-hailed-as-a-national-success-for-fighting-homelessness-but-the-reality-isnt-quite-as-rosy/

Houston’s Affordable Housing Problem Is Going To Intensify https://itexgrp.com/houstons-affordable-housing-problem-is-going-to-intensify

Houston, San Antonio and Dallas among cities with the most housing problems https://voz.us/houston-san-antonio-and-dallas-among-cities-with-the-most-housing-problems

Houston 1 of 4 cities with worst housing availability https://news.yahoo.com/houston-1-4-cities-worst-010144144.html

But turning half the units in that tall building full of dense housing into short-term lets that are a nuisance to the people who actually live there is okay in your book? Because, as you say, objecting to that would be "NIMBY".

Airbnb is way more profitable than conventional letting. Why would anyone offer stable leases to poor people when they can rent out the whole place for higher rates?

In some parts of my country, it is becoming functionality impossible for families to rent a property for a stable term, because landlords want properties vacant over the holidays for short-term lets.

https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/59744/1/airbnb-is-making-life-hell-for-young-renters-in-tourist-hotspots-cornwall

But you think unregulated AirBnB is somehow a positive for housing?

Someone who owns a piece of land should be freely allowed to construct any residential structure they want, so long as the building is safe. 

A bold opinion that seems to have been quite conclusively rejected in cities across the world.

Apartments are residentially zoned. Hotels are commercially zoned (for good reason).

Turning residential homes into unregulated mini-hotels at scale depletes housing stock, and is a nuisance to residents.

This law effectively blocks residential homes from continuing to be used as hotel businesses operating out of residentially zoned areas, allowing residential units to once again be used as housing, and removing the nuisance to residents.

Please explain why you see this as a NIMBY net negative for housing.

... unwelcoming of misogyny? Surprising.

When it's used like that it is.

You wouldn't describe a man as "a male", and you wouldn't refer to your mother as "a female".

How is a law ending the stealth conversion of residentially zoned areas into commercial a net negative for housing?

Zoning laws exist for a reason.

Tear gas is not legal in the UK. Being found in possession of it can lead to a prison sentence of between 6 months and 10 years, and a fine.