Why pay a million bucks for a one bedroom condo in a “gentrifying” part of the Mission when you can pick up the whole city and county of San Francisco for $8 million? That’s what Airbnb is in the process of doing, by spending $8 million dollars to defeat Prop F, a reform of short-term housing rules to make it harder to turn rent-controlled apartments into market-rate hotel rooms (listed on Airbnb). The other side has raised just $350k. In early poll numbers, Prop F looked likely to pass, but after the deluge of VC money and the tens of thousands of handbills and videos about “neighbors suing neighbors,” the poll numbers have flipped and Airbnb is likely to win.
This makes me mad… and sad. But before we get to that, let me say a few things about myself. I’m currently sitting in my sunny apartment on Hayes Street writing this in my pajamas. Nobody is paying me to write this, and I haven’t talked to anyone about it. I work in tech, and many of my friends and colleagues would be horrified by what I’m about to say, so I’m keeping this anonymous. I didn’t always work in tech… in fact, when I moved to San Francisco seven years ago, I didn’t have a job. I just wanted to live here. I fucking love this city.
And I want to prevent it from becoming one giant hotel district. So, if you live in San Francisco, I’d love for you to consider a few points before voting on Prop F in this election.
Warning: I’ve had too much coffee this morning, and I’m feeling emotional.
Airbnb is acting like a wolverine, not a unicorn
Airbnb is a worldwide success story — reshaping the way we think about travel and our homes. This is their home turf, and we’re grappling with complex issues around how to balance Airbnb’s success with local regulations around zoning and affordability — so why is Airbnb flooding my mailbox with handbills suggesting that requiring short-term rentals to register with the city amounts to San Francisco becoming an Orwellian police state with neighbors reporting each other to the Gestapo?
Instead of having an honest conversation, Airbnb is resulting to scare tactics. Are San Franciscans really going to fall for this? Prop F wasn’t written by anti-Airbnb, anti-tech crusaders — it was written by local people worried about preserving our community during a tumultuous time. It is an incremental change — it simply adds some limits and requirements to short-term renting.
Why is Airbnb bringing out the bazookas? Instead of a home-grown hero, it is coming off as an entrenched megacorporation trying to defend its interests using a colossal cash pile.
Airbnb is protecting its interests; are those the same interests of San Francisco?
Without zoning, San Francisco is at risk of becoming like the Epcot Center at Disneyland (we already have tourists buzzing around our neighborhoods in buses and GoKarts…). What makes our neighborhoods wonderful aren’t the pretty Victorian houses or the Full House references, but the quirky, passionate people who choose to make this home. But most people can’t afford to live in hotels — and if we turn our housing stock into de-facto hotels, the people who care the most about this place will simply be driven out. It’s already happening.
It’s not just an issue about reduced housing stock; Airbnb hosts with supplemental income can also afford to pay higher rents, driving up prices. We need some rules and limits to balance the rights of individuals to share their homes with the right of the community to define its rules and identity.
Ultimately, do we want to live in neighborhoods?
The bottom line is this: I want to live in a neighborhood. With real neighbors. Neighbors who live in their apartments most of the time! And I want to live in a neighborhood and a city that has rules and regulations that look out for the people who live there — shaped by those people, not by corporations.
And in these crazy times, when the world is getting revolutionized by technology (literally, at our doorsteps), I want the discussion to be balanced and inclusive — not overwhelmingly driven by the corporation that is already gaining the most from the chaotic status quo.
Airbnb is an awesome product. I use it frequently when I travel. I love experiencing different ways of living and becoming part of new communities — but it’s those authentic communities that make the places special. Let’s defend those — starting with San Francisco.
I think we’re worth more than $8 million.
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You can probably guess how I plan to vote on Prop F in this election. If you’re on the fence, I’d encourage you to look at both sides (http://voterguide.sfelections.org/en/short-term-residential-rentals) — and ignore the handbills.
