Book Review: Lily M. Hoffman and Barbara Schmitter Heisler, Airbnb, Short-Term Rentals and the Future of Housing

Abstract

Recent years have brought a collection of books examining the impact of the sharing economy on workers and on work, but much less attention has been paid to the impact on local communities. Airbnb, Short-Term Rentals and the Future of Housing focuses on the community impact, arguing that the most disruption from Airbnb and related short-term rental platforms has occurred in urban areas where housing markets are already stressed. Hoffman and Heisler utilize a case study approach with a focus on four American cities (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston), compared to Australia (primarily Sydney and Melbourne) and Germany (Berlin and Munich). Although the authors note that homesharing is hardly new, Airbnb has “removed the rooming house stigma and made short-term rentals fashionable, even sexy, for potential travelers” (p. 11). In addition, the platform benefits from “the tech industry’s well-known freedom from regulation” (p. 13). But perhaps most of all, Airbnb has benefited from “financialization,” which the authors define as “the increasingly active role of financial institutions and processes” (p. 15). The securitization of mortgages and high-risk banking strategies, including subprime loans, contributed to the Great Recession, but the rise in foreclosures and the post-recession rise in housing prices also contributed to an increasing number of renters and increased demand for affordable housing. Meanwhile, rental housing has been a declining portion of the U.S. housing market, holding little attraction for private builders outside the high end of the market. Meanwhile, renters—the majority of households in most large cities—pay a larger share of their incomes for housing and are increasingly rent-burdened (spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent). Indeed, Hoffman and Heisler cite a 2020 Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University report noting that “in most metro areas at least 40 percent of renters are costburdened and in some locations the figure is as high as 56 percent” (p. 17). As the rental sector becomes more attractive for investors, “institutional and corporate ownership of rental property has increased as the percentage of individual owners has dramatically declined” (p. 18). Enter Airbnb as “an inexpensive way to travel . . . a solution to high rents and mortgages” and a product of “the neoliberal Zeitgeist that celebrated individual entrepreneurship and technological innovation” (p. 18). Chapter 2 is entitled “Cities, Data and Data Wars,” but that title could actually be applied to every chapter. With few exceptions, chapters generally follow a similar format of discussing the local housing stock, the rise of Airbnb locally, reports created by anti-Airbnb groups, the platform’s response, and various laws and legal challenges. While this may not actually be the goal of the book, it quickly becomes obvious that the challenges of Airbnb—and the reactions from locals—are often not unique. While some cities, such as Los Angeles, are seen as reluctant to take too much action in order to avoid 1076656 CTYXXX10.1177/15356841221076656City & CommunityBook Reviews book-review2022