Unhosted STRs—a/k/a “whole house” AirBnb and VRBO short-term rentals—have come under scrutiny by many cities across the world because of their destabilizing effects on residential neighborhoods, particularly in terms of ciphoning housing, raising rents, and causing disturbances related to noise, trash, and parking.
Conversely, “home sharing,” i.e., a hosted STR wherein a homeowner “shares” a part of their home with a renter, doesn’t remove housing from the community, and generally doesn’t result in noisy parties, over-flowing trash bins (or trash not taken to the curb), and an explosion of cars taking up neighborhood parking because the home-owner host is on hand and monitoring such things.
A recent study presented to the California Coastal Commission by Dr. David Wachsmuth, Chair of Urban Studies at McGill University, cited the following devastating effects of unhosted STRs:
- In any town or city where there are Airbnb listings, there is a predictable increase in rents and housing prices. In fact, during the years 2014-17, one-fifth of all increases in rents across the U.S. were found to be directly related to Airbnb operations.
- There is a direct correlation between the number of unhosted STRs in a city and the number of its unhoused. When looking at LA, it was determined that unhosted STRs were responsible for more than 5,000 extra people experiencing homelessness each night.