I think the sharing economy is brilliant and the way of the future. If there's spare capacity in the world, why should it not be utilized. Unsafe? Is it more unsafe to a degree that the ends don't justify the means? I doubt it.
Perhaps sharing tools, yes. Sharing cars, MAYBE. But sharing living spaces and housing, no. Housing is one of the most intimate services out there services out there. I have standards, I have rights, and I want to feel safe and secure where I live. I am a New Yorker and I don't want to feel like I'm living like a poor person with a hotel next door.
EDIT: The very definition of a hotel - An establishment providing accommodations, meals, and other services for travelers and tourists.
But then other New York residents agree with them by using their services and your point is moot because at the end of the day, you have no right to say they can't do that.
I phrased my point incorrectly. What I mean is when I buy a house or rent an apartment, I want stability. I want to know who's around me and see familiar faces. I don't want the variable of some new short term resident LIVING every other week right next to me. It's like choosing to live in a rich neighborhood vs a poor one; I want to minimize the risk factor of crime as much as possible as do my neighbors.
This sounds more like your own personal paranoia than any sort of rational argument agains Airbnb. The fact that you might have visitors from all over the world passing through the area only enriches the culture and worldliness. To assume that a bunch of tourists paying $150 or more a night will result in increased crime sounds baseless
I don't think there has to be a rational argument against AirBnB. I could create a business telling people that I'll tell you how to get rich, charge them $10,000 and then tell them "Work hard and look for opportunity." and you could say that's horrible and whatever else but there's no rational argument against it.
Living standards isn't something you can rationally argue. I don't care about visitors passing through my neighborhood; I care about the fact that my neighbor is bringing someone new into my neighborhood every weak. I care about the fact that people in NYC can't find a place to live. I care about the fact that even though I live in a safe neighborhood, that can quickly change overnight because that's how fast the people around me can change.
Yes it's personal paranoia but at the same time it's a debate and the residents of NYC are against it but people supporting AirBnB have said nothing but how good it is for travelers.
What makes you think you have any kind of right to choose who lives next to you, or to have a say in what they do with their property? If you take Airbnb out of the equation, the assertion is ridiculous.
I have a right to say no to AirBnB. Does my individual opinion matter? Probably not. Does the collective opinion of my neighborhood matter? Yeah it kind of does.
We've been saying no to AirBnB for years, this isn't anything new. NYC says yes but for some reason the rest of the world thinks we're wrong to choose how we want to live.
If your neighbor has a friend stay with them, and their lease allows it, you have no say in the matter. It's their property rights, which flow to them from upstream property/rights owners.
This is no different. Your right end where their rights begin, which I'd say start right around where their property lines/walls are.
Your rights does not include the right to constant neighbors. or likable, or any. In the deed you have there is no clause of restricting the mobility of the others. (if there is - this is another thing entirely).
How do you define 'efficient'? Is pushing out people who want to live in the city in order to fit more visitors an efficient use of resources? I would argue that it is not.
The free market is deciding what the best use of the space is, in terms of generating revenue and value for all parties involved. That's the power of the sharing economy
only if you treat revenue and value as interchangeable. the value of someone having a stable place they can rent and not fear the landlord will kick them out to run a revolving-door hotel he can squeeze the maximum amount of rent out of is immense, whether or not they can afford to pay as much as the collective influx of transients would.
But the argument Airbnb makes is not in favor allowing building landlords to evict tenants and run illegal hotels, nor is it mine. The law should be changed to cover only that case. Not be broadly extended to cover the 87% who rent out their own home[1], to make extra personal money on the side.
i believe there is also a large difference, in terms of value, between renting out your flat when you are not there, and renting out a room while you continue to live there, in terms of how much you are invested in keeping the common space pleasant for everyone.
Their neighbours are more likely to be people there for the long term and with an interest in the community, rather than just renting out their place to people a night at a time.
I can see the negative side of AirBnB, though that said I just booked a place in Paris because every central hotel under $300/night appears to be booked for next week.
Do you not worry that someone will setup cameras in the WC, record you pooping, then sell the videos, together with your personal details, on an underground tor darksite in exchange for Bitcoins? And you'll never know?
I used to be very trusting of places until I stayed at a university accom during a conference one time. The janitor was up to no good, but we had to leave and no one wanted the trouble of reporting it to front desk.
> Their neighbours are more likely to be people there for the long term and with an interest in the community, rather than just renting out their place to people a night at a time.
Of course that is true, but no they can no longer choose to live in places that allow AirBnBing their apartments. Your argument seems more applicable w/r/t contract law. If you don't want those kind of neighbors you can live in places that prohibit AirBnB.
I am a New Yorker and I win by not having someone here for the short term vs an actual neighbor. This is a hotel no matter which way you try and paint it.
