The truth behind the Airbnb lies
http://www.48hills.org/2015/10/12/the-truth-behind-the-airbnb-lies/
I really enjoyed your recent piece – the dramatically titled “I Have Read Prop F, and It is Way Worse Than You Think” – that is getting passed around the Internet. I know that if you say something enough, people are bound to believe it, so I thought I’d respond via an open letter. And with Airbnb, the primary funder of No on F, spending $8 million on a fear campaign to spread lies about Prop F, – I thought it would be a good opportunity to set the record straight. Never believe everything that a multi-billion-dollar corporation tells you. Unfortunately, big corporations lie all the time when it’s profitable – as thousands of VW owners just found out....
First, let me get this out of the way: You say, “It’s actually really hard to find the text online” and “…you’ll see exactly why they don’t want you to read the text.” Really? Have you ever used Google? I typed “text prop F sf” in the search bar and…hey, here’s the text of Prop F! In 20 seconds. (p.s., all that money Airbnb spent on Google ads is working: The No on F link pops up at the top even if you search for Pope Francis. Glad all that money is getting the company something.) I guess you can fault the campaign for not including a link on its website, but to say the text is hard to find is ludicrous....
I’ve worked on tenants’ rights and affordable housing here in the city for about 20 years, and right now, our housing situation is the worst that I’ve ever seen. There have been about 10,000 evictions since 2010, most fueled by real estate speculation and the new profit found in renting to high-paying tourists rather than long-term tenants (who have, you know, rights and stuff). Ellis Act, owner move-in, nuisance violations, illegal intimidation – you name it and it’s happening now. Every tenant in the city knows that if he or she has to leave an apartment, their time in San Francisco is over.
I think what I find most fascinating (and troubling) about the discussion around Prop F is how Airbnb and the other 60 or so hosting platform companies get a complete pass on any responsibility for what their business model is doing to neighborhoods and housing markets, and the fact that they intentionally turn a blind eye to the many abusers on their sites who openly break the law (more on that later). Ignoring the law and undoing years of carefully thought out housing regulations isn’t an innovation, it’s simply putting profit over people. This isn’t the “sharing” economy, it’s the profit economy — and right now, Airbnb is profiting off of our housing crisis.
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