Boston Globe: "The sharks threatening Cape Cod don’t have fins"
Cape Cod is a huge Airbnb U.S. market, of course they lobby here
Cape Cod is a huge Airbnb U.S. market, of course they lobby here
"Companies that buy up homes to offer as short-term vacation rentals are driving up prices and making it hard for year-round residents and workers to stay. Story here
Cape Cod is a huge Airbnb U.S. market, of course they lobby here
Cape Cod is a huge Airbnb U.S. market, of course they lobby here
Cape Cod is a huge Airbnb U.S. market, of course they lobby here
Cape Cod Times (2/8/21) reported Airbnb met with our Chamber of Commerce "recently." Wonder why the Council hasn't even talked about short-term rentals in years?
That Airbnb is probably owned by private equity, not mom & pop
Imagine if even half the Cape's short-term rentals were homes again
Imagine if even half the Cape's short-term rentals were homes again
Investment firm Saluda Grade is buying $500 million of homes in a deal with short-term rental operator AvantStay. (Story behind WSJ paywall.)
Imagine if even half the Cape's short-term rentals were homes again
Imagine if even half the Cape's short-term rentals were homes again
Imagine if even half the Cape's short-term rentals were homes again
Cape Cod Times (2/8/21) counted. Our housing crisis is a policy choice and our town officials have chosen for years: let Airbnb run rampant.
20+ Barnstable short-term rentals are registered to Town officials
20+ Barnstable short-term rentals are registered to Town officials
20+ Barnstable short-term rentals are registered to Town officials
These were found not through transparency, but homework. And their family members who run Airbnbs? Another story, and more conflict of interest.
A Town official ran three (and in a GIZ zone neighborhood!)
20+ Barnstable short-term rentals are registered to Town officials
20+ Barnstable short-term rentals are registered to Town officials
The Hyannis Growth Incentive Zone (GIZ) was intended to create “real neighborhoods…for people of varied means to live as neighbors." Right.
Airbnb, Vrbo, and other short-term rental platforms are gentrifiers
Barnstable's ADU law nearly killed your single-family residential zone
Barnstable's ADU law nearly killed your single-family residential zone
Inside Airbnb data: hosts are 5x more likely to be white even in mostly Black neighborhoods, and the white hosts earn 530% more than Black hosts.
Barnstable's ADU law nearly killed your single-family residential zone
Barnstable's ADU law nearly killed your single-family residential zone
Barnstable's ADU law nearly killed your single-family residential zone
Without the 11th hour amendment — no investors, no double rents — the law would have suddenly disappeared all single-family zones.
U.S. averages 7.6 Airbnb shootings per month, Hyannis had one
U.S. averages 7.6 Airbnb shootings per month, Hyannis had one
U.S. averages 7.6 Airbnb shootings per month, Hyannis had one
There was an Airbnb shooting and manhunt at 64 Dumont Drive, Hyannis. It was owned by a town official who's an Airbnb "Superhost."
Airbnb crime on Cape Cod? Only Boston news will report it
U.S. averages 7.6 Airbnb shootings per month, Hyannis had one
U.S. averages 7.6 Airbnb shootings per month, Hyannis had one
The police took this mugshot on December 6, 2021: an Airbnb "home" was used as HQ for Cape break-in spree Only WCVB Boston news reported it.
No more village plans: the town of Barnstable has a plan for you
No more village plans: the town of Barnstable has a plan for you
No more village plans: the town of Barnstable has a plan for you
Last #1 goal: "livable neighborhoods for year round residents while providing housing opportunities for all." Now, goal is "developer-decides" zoning.
Bye use-based zoning, hello "developer decides" zoning
No more village plans: the town of Barnstable has a plan for you
No more village plans: the town of Barnstable has a plan for you
If we should care only how a property looks, not how it's used, then Airbnb is cool, so are Pacaso.com's timeshares, anything goes.
NEW: turning homes into permanent vacation timeshares
It's illegal to rent a private pool, of course Barnstable won't enforce
It's illegal to rent a private pool, of course Barnstable won't enforce
Pacaso.com buys homes, furnishes them, and sells them to 8 parties who timeshare (or jointly operate an Airbnb). Pacaso is hiring in Barnstable.
It's illegal to rent a private pool, of course Barnstable won't enforce
It's illegal to rent a private pool, of course Barnstable won't enforce
It's illegal to rent a private pool, of course Barnstable won't enforce
You can't rent your pool for parties like it's Chuck E Cheese. Town Hall knows this is illegal and does nothing. Swimply profiteers are still listed for rent.
Airbnb & VRBO altered the market; only GOOD local government can help
Locals can no longer find or afford housing.
Workers are forced to move further and further away from their jobs. Here in Barnstable, businesses don't have the staff to operate anywhere near normal. Customers are urged to bring their "patience."
Would-be home buyers — individuals, couples, families — are now competing in bidding wars against capital-armed investors.
Studies by the Wharton School, Economic Policy Institute, Harvard Business Review, MIT and UCLA all agree:
- The sheer number of Airbnb listings in a zip code is associated with increases in property prices and rental rates
- Housing supply shrinks as properties shift from serving local residents to serving tourists
- While some Airbnb hosts are "mom and pop" home sharers, the field is now dominated by providers who've developed a professional business model from short-term rentals
In a truly civil society, human necessities like shelter wouldn't be commoditized, financialized, and sold like Apple iTunes songs or Uber rides. Scott Galloway, professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, defines the Menace Economy as “the pursuit of wealth at the expense of other human beings." That's what this is.
Short-term rentals are big business invading your neighborhood.
There's nowhere you can live in Barnstable where the home next door can't be changed to a Motel 6
If you can still find housing here, there's no street you can have a home where a real estate investor can't buy next door and operate a full-time Airbnb/Vrbo tourist lodging business. The chair of the Zoning & Regulatory committee that approved the policy admitted it on NewsRadio 95 WXTK.
The Town said it has no idea what effect its investor-friendly short-term rental policy will have
In February 2020, the proposal was presented to the Town Council. A question was asked: "Do we know the effect it will have on the town in 1, 3, or 5 years?" The answer was "No." Fact is, the Town's zoning change allowing commercial lodging everywhere, next door to you, is a Pandora's Box.
Only 1/3 of hosts are real home-sharers, business interests put them out front for PR
These moms and pops, who often need the rental income, are used as "human shields" to distract from what short-term rentals are now: large scale conversion of homes into businesses by investors and corporations with 25+ listings. (We don't know anyone who objects to our traditional summer rentals.)