1.) Landlords make people homeless by turning homes into Airbnbs/holiday rentals, pushing up house prices (by increasing demand and decreasing supply).
2.) Rather than doing the right thing and banning holiday rentals in residential neighborhoods, politicians tax taxpayers and use the money to rent (and buy) hotels to house the people made homeless by Airbnb/etc.
3.) The remaining hotel prices go up.
4.) With hotel stays climbing in price, more people book an Airbnb/etc.
5.) So more landlords make more people homeless by buying more homes and turning them into more Airbnbs, pushing up house prices.
6.) Rinse and repeat until collapse.
Fewer homes, fewer hotels, higher prices, more homelessness.
What a demonic business model!
Literally demonic.
Thousands of years ago, God warned His people that this would happen if landlords were allowed to compound their profits and buy up more and more homes:
The LORD of hosts declares: “Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.” (Isaiah 5:9)
Everywhere my wife and I go — literally everywhere we go, from north to south to east to west—we find dozens of empty houses, and they all look the same inside and out — that bleached Airbnb/IKEA/Pinterest/IG/lifeless Swiss banker aesthetic.
Desolate.
Without inhabitant.
Just another income stream for someone who is too greedy or too fearful to think about how their actions are literally making people homeless.
So what can I do?
I know it sounds unthinkable, but just stop using Airbnb and holiday lets.
Then firmly admonish all your friends to stop as well.
Say no if your friends or family try to book one for you, gently explain why, and suggest alternatives.
We need to make it culturally revolting to enjoy family holidays off the backs of making other families homeless.
Options instead of Airbnb
Stop traveling so much.
Seriously, we can just consume less. Quality over quantity. Learn contentment.Stay with friends.
It’s what all our grandparents did all the time. Make it normal again.Trade/swap/exchange.
We use Home Exchange. You don’t actually have to swap directly — you get points for hosting, which you then use to stay elsewhere. Last summer, we stayed by the southeast coast, the homeowner stayed by the sea, and a family from Spain stayed at our place. Use this link to sign up — there you go, you already have a free weekend instead of making a family homeless.Stay in a bed and breakfast
Airbnb continues to try to murder this market, but we’ve had some incredible stays with wonderfully hospitable families. Because B&Bs aren’t owned by shareholders, prices are often far lower than hotels and Airbnbs, especially when booking directly and/or paying cash/debit.Stay in a hotel.
Old school. Sure, they’re stupidly expensive, but there are also deal sites, last-minute sites, and tons of travel tricks and credit card hacks. (We save up grocery store points and get 1–3 $600+ weekends away per year for free.)Camp, caravan, trailer, yurt, treehouse, etc.
Just stop making people homeless.
What else can I do?
Check your pension/portfolio and make sure you’re invested in zero stocks and bonds that are making people homeless.
Otherwise, you’re profiting from engineered human misery, and I can’t imagine God and/or karma takes too kindly to that sort of callous abuse of others.
Run your portfolio through AI if it’s “too hard.”
Sell:
Airbnb — ABNB
Expedia Group — EXPE (owns VRBO)
Booking Holdings — BKNG
Blackstone — BX
All landlording stocks and bonds
All banking stocks and bonds
Then make amends/restitution.
Sell price — buy price = the amount you profited from human misery and homelessness.
Let’s stop being the Isaiah 5:9 that makes many houses desolate and without inhabitant.
Let’s be an Isaiah 58:12 generation instead:
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
Recommendations
Watch:
Red Light Green Light (human trafficking documentary)
Over 18 (pornography addiction documentary)
Redeeming Uncle Tom (slavery documentary)
Read:
A Year of Living Prayerfully (book on prayer) Download for free
Bearded Gospel Men (men’s devotional)
A God Named Josh (book about Jesus)
A Devil Named Lucifer (book about the devil)
Want to write a book? Take The Publishing Course.
Invite Jared to speak at your church/conference/event: JaredBrock.com