Cape Town increasing supply of dwellings to address lack of affordable accommodation

Daniel Puchert

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Good news for Airbnb in South Africa

Cape Town is increasing the supply of dwellings in the city to address its lack of affordable housing, a problem that has been attributed to Airbnb. This resulted in significant criticism of the short-term rental platform.

News of Cape Town's plans to develop more housing comes after mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the best way to deal with rising rental costs is to regulate the supply side of the problem rather than the demand side.
 
I guess that's why they're now focusing on the supply side instead ;)
It just seems so weird to say the "best way" to deal with this is from the supply side. I mean... it's the ONLY way.

Real answer is just build more housing. Regulating how long someone rents their property is not something I agree with.
 
Regulating how long someone rents their property is not something I agree with.

Agree 100%. Not to mention the sheer unenforceability of it. South Africans simply ignore laws and regulations they don't agree with, especially ones that are unenforcable.
 
Who, and for how long, you rent your property to is nobody's business, least of all the municipality and the national government. It's called private property for a reason.

Ah i see you have an AirBNB listing.
 
It just seems so weird to say the "best way" to deal with this is from the supply side. I mean... it's the ONLY way.

Real answer is just build more housing. Regulating how long someone rents their property is not something I agree with.
I agree with the bolded, create more supply and incentives to build more.

On the regulation of short term rentals I think my view has always been that if it's run as a business it should be regulated the same as any other business especially in terms of zoning and application of law.

I'll just add that I don't think anyone has an issue with someone having a secondary home renting it out or renting a spare bedroom or flat. However, there should be clear delineations.
 
Ah i see you have an AirBNB listing.

No, I just don't like living in some dystopian world where private property owners are responsible for curing the world of its social ills. We live in a free country. If you don't like the rental prices in Cape Town then take your business elsewhere that's more aligned to the shallowness of your pockets.
 
No, I just don't like living in some dystopian world where private property owners are responsible for curing the world of its social ills. We live in a free country. If you don't like the rental prices in Cape Town then take your business elsewhere that's more aligned to the shallowness of your pockets.
With respect - that's a little oversimplified, live in an AirBNB-dominated neighborhood with tens of key lockboxes chained to the wall or fence of every building and it's worse than a crappy tiny Italian village in the off-season with businesses not being sustainable due to unpredictable influx. Imho, Cape Town is nowhere near where it could be as far as the worst examples of AirBNB is concerned...
 
Who, and for how long, you rent your property to is nobody's business, least of all the municipality and the national government. It's called private property for a reason.
I think you might be confusing "private property" with "sovereign state".

*All* private property have rules and regulations. Arguing that a specific regulation should not be applied because "private property" is ridiculous, because then you will have to argue no regulation of any kind should be applied to private property.

You might still have rights and there can still be limitations to regulations as ruled by courts or the constitution etc. But definitely there exist no such thing as "nobody's business".
 
With respect - that's a little oversimplified, live in an AirBNB-dominated neighborhood with tens of key lockboxes chained to the wall or fence of every building and it's worse than a crappy tiny Italian village in the off-season with businesses not being sustainable due to unpredictable influx. Imho, Cape Town is nowhere near where it could be as far as the worst examples of AirBNB is concerned...

The reality is that AirBNB has nothing to do with the lack of long-term rentals. The real reason is because landlords are sick and tired of the risks associated with long-term rentals, the cost and anguish of evicting delinquent tenants, and the law always being on the side of tenants, no matter how sucky they are. Make it easier for landlords to evict long-term tenants and you are half-way to solving the crisis.
 
Ah i see you have an AirBNB listing.
I own just the one property. My home.

I really don't agree with telling people how long they can rent their property out for. It's their property. That it increases rent for people looking for longer term housing is really not the landlord's problem.

The city is free to start projects to build new residences to combat the problem. The city is looking for the easy short term solution.

The only real answer to this problem is to build more housing.
 
I think you might be confusing "private property" with "sovereign state".

*All* private property have rules and regulations. Arguing that a specific regulation should not be applied because "private property" is ridiculous, because then you will have to argue no regulation of any kind should be applied to private property.

You might still have rights and there can still be limitations to regulations as ruled by courts or the constitution etc. But definitely there exist no such thing as "nobody's business".

Yes, obviously there are laws and regulations, but my point is, at it stands at the moment, the City of Cape Town and the national government have no right to tell you how long you can rent your property out for. Hence, at the moment, it is nobody's business. And it should stay that way.
 
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