For anyone involved in the hunt for affordable housing, it’s hard to work up tears for short term rental (STR) clients forced to skulk around pretending to be long-lost uncle Bruce and family from far Tasmania. More and more municipalities are becoming aware that STRs threaten affordable housing stocks. For a recent scene from the front lines of city battles with STRs, read more in the Los Angeles Times: Venice Businessman Must Turn His Hotel Back Into Apartments, Planning Commission Rules
Restricting or banning STR’s doesn’t slow down less-than-scrupulous landlords who try to fly under municipal radar, though. And that can make fine, upstanding tourists ‘feel like criminals.’ If you’re a renter who can’t find housing that you can actually afford, or an activist exasperated by slow moving municipal action in a worldwide housing crisis, maybe you’d like a vindictive chuckle at the plight of weary travellers who have discovered that shady STR renting can mean taking a course in protective camouflage. Read more at the CBC: ‘I Felt Like A Criminal’: Airbnb Hosts Ask Guests To Lie, Sneak Around In Covert Rentals
Will STRs become the last resort of the shameless?
