NOLA people: thoughts on AirBnb?

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A local housing rights group released a report Wednesday saying that regulations for short-term rentals in New Orleans put in place a year ago have done nothing to slow the gentrification of traditional neighborhoods or the displacement of residents
The Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative's report, "Short-Term Rentals, Long-Term Impacts," says the city has been ineffective at preventing out-of-state owners from converting homes needed by local residents into hotels en masse.

“Airbnb pretends they are a home-sharing service, that their users are homeowners who are making ends meet by renting out their homes,” program manager Breonne DeDecker said. “But our report exposes that lie. What is happening in New Orleans is not home-sharing, but the hotelization of residential housing.”
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The city's regulations, put in place a year ago, require those who rent out their homes using online platforms to register with the city and obtain one of three types of licenses. They also require Airbnb to contribute money to a city fund for affordable housing. The Jane Place analysis found there are 4,319 listings for entire homes in New Orleans on Airbnb alone, an increase of 232 percent since 2015. DeDecker said the top 10 short-term rental operators together control 568 units in New Orleans and that 18 percent of short-term rental operators control nearly half of the permitted properties. The report also said that 82 percent of Airbnb listings in the city are for whole homes available an average of 174 nights per year. “These operators are not strapped homeowners making ends meet by occasionally renting out space," DeDecker said. "And it is offensive for Airbnb and pro-short-term-rental lobbyists to pretend that these individuals and corporations are just homeowners trying to stay afloat.”

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