It’s odd the things people will complain about:
Short-term lettings through Airbnb and other online platforms are “growing out of control” in London with up to one in 50 of all homes now estimated to be available, town hall bosses have claimed.
The spread of short term lets is encouraging antisocial behaviour and criminality with residents increasingly complaining about them being used as party houses and for prostitution and drug dealing, councils in the capital said. They believe it is pushing up rents and reducing the availability of homes for the rising number of households who are temporarily homeless, which in England hit 56,280 last year – the highest level since 2010.
…
“At a time when almost one in 50 Londoners is homeless, it’s ridiculous that potentially one in 50 London homes is rented out as a short-term let,” said Darren Rodwell, the leader of Newham council and the London Council’s lead on housing.
If people are temporarily homeless then wouldn’t we rather like there to be lots of available short term rentals to put them into?
Not when those short term lets are managed by filthy capitalists when they should be managed by the state or one of its subsidiaries (such as councils).
There’s been quite a lot of this in the States – trying to stop Airbnb, etc. Usually one finds that behind the odd arguments and “concerned neighbors” you’ll find hotels and motels funding politicians. Or perhaps I’m being too cynical.
Not in the least! Should you check yourself for being cynical, you should tune into the impeachment wrangling, where Trump stands accused of being a politician abusing his power for the sake of…politics…by a party fixated on Trump’s apparent unbeatability in 2020.
Hoteliers, and owners of taxi medallions, do have an urgent desire to protect their business from job-shoppers.
Now, one more time, availability of tools (housing or firearms) is not the primary cause of misconduct.
In Paris and elsewhere there has been a successful campaign by hôteliers and Chambres d’Hôte against Airbnb and people with second homes renting out for vacation use.
So allowing people to use our homes when we are not is not a good thing? Doesn’t it benefit both us and those who use our homes?
Or do those benefits not somehow count when looking at the problem?
But
2% of Londoners are homeless? That’s >160,000 Londoners are “homeless” sleeping on street? Does that mean -101,720 are homeless in rest of England?
Oh, it’s the old “homeless” includes/means whatever trope
Is Grenfell “homeless” still higher than Grenfell residents?
@TimW: Temp Rentals = B&B, Hostel, Travelodge etc, pre-dates Airbnb
In West Oz regional areas Airbnbs have priced the locals out of accomodation as more visitors compete and being not dependent on the local rural economy, can and do pay the higher prices. New buildings cost way more, if they can be built thanks to planning regulations so no additional accomdation is available to rebalance the market at lower costs. So both the local homeless and owners have a problem which is not going to be fixed by a tax system that rewards only higher prices because of revenue needs