[andy99]

Airbnb is a convenient scapegoat especially for interests that don't want to change the bigger levers - housing development and immigration (and as mentioned elsewhere, housing prices can't go down for political reasons). So Airbnb gets pushed as a problem. This is basically propaganda.

[listenallyall]

It's not the only factor, but Airbnb certainly has provided an easy alternative to putting a home up for sale. Supply shortage, i.e., fewer units for sale, is a real contributor to rapidly increasing housing prices.

[Tiktaalik]

I agree that Airbnb is used as a scapegoat, and that it is not the problem, but it still is a thing causing real issues for cities.

There's no real reason to not to bring in reasonable regulations that limit the worst sort of Airbnb uses.

[bredren]

Does Airbnb take a public stance lobbying for change on these big levers? The company is powerful enough to transparently fund and back political action on these other areas.