San Diego's Hidden Housing Crisis: The Airbnb Effect

San Diego is in a housing crunch. It's not just a small problem. It's a big one. And a big part of it is Airbnbs. Right now, there are 10, 600 homes in San Diego being used as short-term rentals. That's a lot. It's like having a whole other city within San Diego where families can't live. These homes might look nice on Instagram. But in reality, they're not helping the housing situation. When a home becomes an Airbnb, it's like it's gone. A family can't live there. A nurse can't rent it. A young couple can't start their life there. It's like the home has disappeared from the housing market. Housing isn't like other things. You can't just make more of it. It's not elastic. It doesn't replenish itself. So when a home is turned into an Airbnb, it's like it's been demolished. And that's a problem because San Diego needs more housing, not less. San Diego needs 108, 036 new homes by 2029 just to keep up with population growth. But with homes being turned into Airbnbs, it's like we're moving backward. We're digging a deeper hole. Some people say that a few Airbnbs won't make a difference. But 10, 600 homes is not a few. It's a lot. It's a mid-sized town's worth of homes that families can't use. The city is trying to do something about it. They're proposing a tax on vacation home operations. It's not a perfect solution, but it's a start. The problem is clear. It's in our high rent prices, our overcrowded apartments, our teachers commuting from far away, and our homelessness crisis. Housing is precious in San Diego. It's like water in a drought. We need to treat it that way. An Airbnb might not look like a demolition. But it's a demolition all the same. And until we stop tearing down homes this way, we'll never build enough to catch up.