Eight Ways Travelers Can Fight ‘the Airbnb Effect’ on Local Housing Costs

I had run into what is being called “the Airbnb effect,” in reference to the home-sharing platform founded in 2008, although it can be attributed to all such sites. Residents of major tourist destinations say apartments turned into Airbnb rentals are limiting available housing, raising rents to unaffordable levels and pushing locals out.

A March 2019 report from the Economic Policy Institute says that “evidence suggests that the presence of Airbnb raises local housing costs” in American cities. With more tourists staying there, the very essence of a neighborhood may be lost, says Justin Francis, chief executive of Responsible Travel, an activist travel company. Local services such as a dentist’s office or a small grocery store move out and are replaced by businesses serving tourists.