Airbnbs = more crime study finds.

Douglas353
Level 5
Orinda, CA

Airbnbs = more crime study finds.

I can see city governments using this research to pass ordinances to eliminate Airbnb rentals. 

https://www.wired.com/story/why-some-crimes-increase-when-airbnbs-come-town/

 

 

4 Replies 4

@Douglas353  If you're in a community where zoning laws limit the expansion of new housing or the density of residences, the evidence of Airbnb being a destructive force in the neighborhood is overwhelming. That's more a fault of decades of bad urban policy than of Airbnb as a company, but we can't deny that one of those two entities found a way to exploit the other for profit.

 

I like the idea of STR's being in the mix when cities try to calculate how to balance the crucial need for affordable housing against the tangential need for tourist services. But I'd certainly hope that whatever ordinances they pass prioritize the cohesion of communities and households over whatever maneuvers landlords want to pull to maximize their profits, and inflate their image of whatever tiny little thing in life they're trying to compensate for.

 

@Anonymous  Did you read the article?  Your post leads me to believe you haven't.  In the city where I live we had our first mass shooting where five where shot.  This was our city's first and only mass shooting.  This has nothing to do with poor urban planning.  Had our city officials outlawed Airbnb/strs those five people would be alive today.  Yes this is only one data point, but if you look at the study you will find that's what the researchers found.  When a city allows Airbnb/strs the overall quality of the neighborhood decreases.  

@Douglas353 That is some seriously tortured logic.

 

There are indeed some legislative reasons that the US has such an extreme number of mass shootings and other gun crimes compared to other countries, but could you please put your thinking cap on for a minute and consider what the key variable might be?

 

 If your answer is "Airbnb," I have a feeling you're not going to be our next Jeopardy champion.

 

Nobody can possibly know what other counterfactuals might have averted the Orinda shooting, but you're down a strange path there. The US has had mass shootings in schools, malls, churches, a post office, a Wal-Mart, and every other type of place where multiple people in shooting range can be found. One remark I've never heard from the peanut gallery is "let's ban schools, malls, and churches because they decrease the overall quality of our communities, as evidenced by the mass shooters they attract."

 

As it were, your community's horrible event happened at a house party that got way out of hand. Fun fact : those used to happen in the suburbs all the time before Airbnb came along. Haven't you ever seen a teen movie from the 80s? 

@Anonymous  For someone who is from San Francisco how could you miss Problems in Oakland for $100, Berkeley's Rent Control for $200, Berkeley City Politics for $200, and what Orinda is like for $300?  And how could you miss When the last shooting was in Oakland for $100 and  When was there ever a shooting in Orinda?  (There have been a few.) 

A lot has changed in the Bay Area since you lived here especially in Oakland.  OPD's police chief just can't believe the number of shootings that have occurred this year.  He's calling Oakland a shooting galley.    And the City Council has cut police funding.  I think I can answer that Double Jeopardy question, where was the last shooting in Germany?  Wasn't it in Hanau?  

 

The research found it's not Airbnb's guests who cause the violence.  It's that Airbnb/strs or the temp nature of guests disrupts the community.  City of Berkeley's urban planning policy is to eliminate strs and get the house the homeless.