Op-Ed: Airbnb Makes NYC Housing More Affordable, Not Less

By helping people to realize some of the capital value, and not merely the consumption value, of their homes Airbnb is a force for improving housing affordability in highly-desirable real estate markets like New York City’s. In this New York Post op-ed, Steve DelBianco’s argument implies strongly that there is something intellectually inconsistent in simultaneously favoring measures that increase cost-of-living affordability and opposing sharing-economy innovations like Airbnb. >>>

LINK: How Airbnb actually makes NYC affordable (by Steve DelBianco in New York Post)

In an effort to protect its turf, the incumbent lodging industry created the ironically named Share Better Coalition — and seems to believe that the best way to share is not to share at all.

In a new ad campaign, the group claims that “Airbnb only serves to make real-estate moguls richer while at the same time taking affordable housing away from everyone else.”
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Airbnb isn’t eroding the city’s stock of housing. It’s helping residents cope with the inflationary effects and price fluctuations of the city’s existing housing market. It may be technologically disruptive — but it’s economically stabilizing.

What do you think?

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