Airbnb connect those in need with people who are able to provide free housing | Hacker News Reader

Airbnb connect those in need with people who are able to provide free housing

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56 pointskloncks14 comments

This is great. Though the immediate crisis seems to have passed, I still have coworkers whose buildings have been rendered completely uninhabitable. Good on Airbnb for doing this.

Question for HNers from NYC: when would be a good time to visit?

I was planning to spend November there (hostels and/or airbnb) but put that off when the hurricane hit. All the official tourism sites are saying "business as usual" but that seems at odds with the thousands of displaced people and the TV footage of cleanup in Queens. Surely there's an accommodation shortage and many tired locals who don't want tourists running around?

Would I be nuts to visit in December?

If any AirBNB people are reading this thread please do something similar to this when the rebuilding effort begins. A lot of the "Habitat or Humanity"-esque rebuilding projects need places to put volunteer workers. There are only so many free beds in churches.

noted..

I just tried to list my apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but was unable to post my listing because "Only places in certain regions can be listed with a zero price." Might be helpful if airbnb specified those regions.

Regardless of how successful this is, I wonder if this goodwill move will sweeten the city toward Airbnb when the inevitable fight with the city's hoteliers arise.

The city hotel tax is a way to sort-of-pick-pocket out of towners. In this case, the people are local. So the political purpose of the hotel (ie, "visitor") tax is not there. So, you are right this is a good way to find some common ground to work together. This can help them establish a relationship in a way that is not undermined from the get-go.

The problem for AirBNB in the long run that the concept of an <amateur landlord> and a massive bureucratic method of systematically creating liabilities for non-residents is not a compatible vision. The latter process requires that all "visitors" be documented etc. to be subject to the tax. The leverages (and pre-supposes) a quasi-corporate business structure for the hotel industry. etc.

So, there is an interesting political economy issue here.

> The city hotel tax is a way to sort-of-pick-pocket out of towners.

Or maybe it's a way to ensure that transients, who put undue pressure on city resources and quality of life compared to long-term residents, pay their fair share.

It seems more likely to have precious little to do with the "value" you may or may not "add" to society. The taxes on upscale hotels (business class travelers, Presumably spending $$$) exceed those on cheap ones, etc. Commuters in NYC (for example) pay special regional income and sales taxes, but they don't sleep in Hotels. More closer to your def of 'transient'. For the most part.

Also, perhaps as a counter example: Artists, students, and other creative types are now perhaps more likely to use AirBNB than a Hotel, as a base of working in NYC or SF etc. History evidences (globally) creatives tend to inflate real-estate values far in excess of any economic income they themselves capture from employment (in any major urban center). Viz: Soho, Soma, Shoreditch, Berlin, Brooklyn, Paris pre-war, etc.

> It seems more likely to have precious little to do with the "value" you may or may not "add" to society. The taxes on upscale hotels (business class travelers, Presumably spending $$$) exceed those on cheap ones, etc.

Sure, in the end, it's a tax. No shocker that the better-off pay more.

> Also, perhaps as a counter example: Artists, students, and other creative types are now perhaps more likely to use AirBNB than a Hotel, as a base of working in NYC or SF etc. History evidences (globally) creatives tend to inflate real-estate values far in excess of any economic income they themselves capture from employment (in any major urban center). Viz: Soho, Soma, Shoreditch, Berlin, Brooklyn, Paris pre-war, etc.

I can only speak for Soma, because I've lived there for 5 years. The inflation in real estate has more to do with lack of supply around the whole city, a booming tech economy, its proximity to most people's workplaces, and relatively cheap price per square foot compared to other neighborhoods in the city (not so much anymore). Not sure artists have anything to do with it.

Hotel taxes are one of a class of taxes specifically designed to burden non-residents, regardless of the value they bring to the city.[1]

On the other example, SOMA et al, Tech offices have only been in SOMA follwing the rapid gentrification that followed ca 1995/96. For the origins of this change, see reference>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentrification#Impact_on_artist...

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[1] If you don't believe this, based on the logic, feel free to research the topic historically.

Seen this? Airbnb: Here Be (Some) Dragons

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-07/airbnb-here-...

This is noble!

Airbnb should go all the way and start renting out trailers in the desert. Attach gigabit fiber as well, big opportunity in that. With self-driving cars and self-flying drones on the horizon there'd could be a first mover advantage for a short while.

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