[cnelsenmilt]

Yes, but AirBnB units are not that. The prices are an order of magnitude higher than prevailing monthly rates, if they're even available on a long-term basis. And yes, short term, furnished rentals probably also have a place in the market. But it's a small place. The vast majority of people need a location that's stable on an annual+ basis and whose price has a reasonable relationship to local wages.

[notch898a]

The problem I ran into when I lived in Chicago was there were quite a few renter protections built into the city statutes. So landlords were quite weary of renting to someone like me with bad credit and rental history, as eviction could be burdensome. AirBnB allowed long term residents like me to actually get a place to stay by side-stepping renter protections and allowing a landlord to take a chance on a bad apple. Without AirBnB I would have been homeless.

[vanilla_nut]

I think you would have been even better off with the cheap halfway houses that used to exist in American cities in the early 20th century. AirBnBs are so expensive I'm not sure they really fill the economic gap you're talking about -- very, very few people who can afford to stay in an AirBnB long-term also have poor credit and rental history.

[foogazi]

How can they be better off in something that doesn’t exist in our reality ?

Source: currently looking into extended stay Airbnb for family member with no credit history

[notch898a]

Yes the place I stayed was a crammed together house of people that can only be described as a slightly upgrade over a crack house on the South side. It was in the hood with people selling loose squares on the corner. My presence was only tolerated in the area because I had "business" in the area as a paying tenant to a known member of the neighborhood.

There's no way in hell this was some place that pleasant white upper class families were staying on vacation or something. The people that rented it were happy to have market penetration to people who weren't in the neighborhood to cause problems, and most of the "tenants" were working class people who had one foot in the hood and one foot working their way up in legitimate jobs closer to the loop.

AirBnB IS the new halfway house.

[foogazi]

Wasn’t this the original purpose of airbnb ?

A platform to bring people with extra rooms together with those looking for a place

[cnelsenmilt]

That's fair, and as I said they have a place, but I think we can agree it's not a majority case.