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Comment by majjam | Hacker News Reader

A concern I haven't seen raised as much with AirBnb is the erosion of communities. It is ironic that tourists wish to visit cities for their culture (Berlin, Amsterdam etc.) but that by removing housing stock, there will be fewer and fewer locals left, for example in Edinburgh's grassmarket, entire tenements are now short term lets. Cities then just become pretty museums.

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I mean, is this so bad? It also implies novel communities are forming elsewhere; perhaps you're viewing this from a perspective on the past when the one on the future may be more relevant.

I say this as someone who hates AirBnB and high rent prices in cities.

I would like this to be true, but I cant think of anything that could replace the city for jobs and opportunities. Do you have any examples of this? And of course as soon as an alternative cultural center pops up, rent seeking will follow...

The community that get uprooted from one neighbourhood doesn't reform in a new sui generis neighbourhood in the city to reconstitute itself whole; its members get scattered across the city. In Toronto's Kensington Market neighbourhood, in a 5 by 5 street area, there are somewhere around 250 airbnb units available, and the area is turning from a traditional market into a bar and restaurant area. The residents are pushed away and the local merchants are pushed away.

Is Kensington really getting that bad? I haven't been down there in a little while, but my girlfriend still seemed to think it was going well there. She rarely goes herself, though.

That said I rent long-term (nearing a 1/2 years) in Liberty Village (Ha! I cannot afford to buy in this city) and my building seems to be half Airbnb units. I run into more people with luggage coming and going than I see actual residents. The faces are always changing except for the smallest set...

The neighbourhood is still a lot of fun, but there are fewer merchants now then when I moved to Toronto in the early 2000s. There used to be 3 fishmongers, now there is only one; there's about 3 produce stores left, there used to be many more. A bunch of knick knack stores have closed. Back when I moved here, there were two (!) separate anarchist spaces; there hasn't been any in years now. On the upside, it's becoming the veg*n restaurant quarter of the city...

This development is probably unrelated to AirBnB. People go to big supermarkets or shop online instead of going to specialised merchants (e.g. fishmongers). Small stores have been dying since a decade in most European and North American cities.

It's funny you bring that up, though. Farmer's markets have, on the other hand, seen a recent surge -- possibly even correlating with the decline of smaller produce, dairy, and other vendors. There's one at least once a week in every neighbourhood just about (still speaking Toronto).

Doesn't this rule defray most of the likely causes of housing stock removing/conversion?

If only primary residences can be let within a city... I fail to see how entire apartments are short term lets.

Well, the Quebec government will receive increased tax revenues, but I dont see how that can be used to offset the erosion of community / loss of housing stock.

As for only primary residences being let, Im not sure what you mean - in my city at least entire flats are regularly rented out, for short periods of time over the entire year.

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