|
|
Post by High Priestess on May 18, 2016 15:22:21 GMT
See the article: abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory/chicago-debates-rules-short-term-rentals-airbnb-39182950
ONe thing I found interesting in the proposed regulations, is that people would be able to rent out as many as 6 entire apartments, or 25% of their building as short term rentals, which ever is lower. So for instance, if someone owned a 30 unit apartment complex, they could rent out 6 units in it as short term rentals. If they owned a 10 unit complex, they could rent out 2. This is intriguing since many cities, such as San Francisco, don't allow any short term rentals of whole apartments which aren't one's primary residence. |
|
|
|
Post by Inanna (Shaun) on May 21, 2016 6:17:06 GMT
Yes, it s curious. It led someone to speculate in the Facebook group Airbnb Chicago that perhaps Airbnb 2.0 will be the big guys, the huge investors. Do you think that's a possibility?
|
|
|
|
Post by High Priestess on May 21, 2016 9:02:36 GMT
I don't think that this style of short term renting (that of owners of large apartment buildings renting out entire apartments) is very popular in many places in the US, due to the housing issues. Generally cities dont' want to see long term housing lost to short term rentals, so they prohibit people renting out units that are not their own primary residence. This isn't true everywhere --- it tends not to be a problem in areas that are primary vacation rental areas anyhow, like Tahoe and Big Bear in California. But in urban centers it is more the case. I dont' think this has to do with AIrbnb per se -- and given the issues with Airbnb rentals in Chicago and the kinds of complaints I had read about, I had thought this kind of thing would be off the table.
After all renting out entire places where one doesn't live is much more likely to lead to problems with noise, parties, and adjacent long term tenants being upset and complaining that their building is being turned into a hotel. I have never seen a city say "yes, we will allow the building to be a hotel, in part...."
|
|
|
|
Post by Inanna (Shaun) on May 22, 2016 14:17:30 GMT
I see your point. What we hosts are experiencing on the ground makes little sense from our vantage point. Seems more political than actual. That being said, Chicago's "lack of affordable housing" being tied to Airbnb is just a convenient talking point that they can echo. Housing in Chicago is plentiful and cheap. I have never heard of anyone having problems finding an apartment like they do on the West Coast. My partner and I each found an empty three flat in a good location for a great price with minimal effort. Now, there is a dearth of safe places for a family to rent for under 600 a month, but that's more systemic, a single parent working for minimum wage, for example. But the overall availability of affordable housing seems better here than most places.
Mainly, the political fight here seems to be just that.
|
|
