AOC says Airbnb is ‘supercharging evictions’ from Puerto Rico to Jackson Hole — and young people will never own a home

"Now young people are planning for a future where they will never be able to afford to own a home, while others have 20 and live off renting it out to them at extortionate rates with zero protections."

Her comments come at a time when housing affordability has become a defining economic issue.

On the one hand, rental platforms like Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) offer property owners an opportunity to earn relatively passive income, meaning those who can afford to purchase homes have access to an alternative revenue stream. And the investors who snatch up several properties can earn the big bucks by running STRs out of them. But Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) contrastingly purports that, while these investors profit, "millions of everyday Americans are bearing the cost."

The long-term problem with STRs

In tourist destinations — like San Juan or Rincón, Puerto Rico, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming — AOC and other critics warn that STRs reduce available inventory for local residents while driving rent and home prices (2) upward.

In a May appearance on the “It's Open” podcast (3) with Ilana Glazer, AOC argued that extreme wealth accumulation often depends on exploitative systems, labor imbalances and market dominance — and the housing market is one example. Her comments have sparked fierce backlash (4) from conservatives and business advocates, but they have also resonated with young voters who feel locked out of traditional milestones like buying a home, establishing savings or starting families.

Puerto Rico is a particularly charged place for AOC, whose roots trace back to the island. Following years of economic instability, hurricane recovery struggles and an influx of wealthy mainland investors attracted by tax incentives, Puerto Rican residents are being priced out of their own neighborhoods (5). A New York Times report notes (6) that wealthy investors are "turning entire neighborhoods into Airbnb corridors and creating a shortage of inventory for local residents."

Prioritizing nightly profits

Property owners are often incentivized to prioritize high nightly or weekly profits over stable local tenants, especially in scenic destinations where demand for tourism shows no signs of slowing. That means there are fewer long-term rentals available altogether, and demand is increasingly strong for those that are, driving rents up.

Many essential workers in these communities are forced to commute long hours to work because they cannot afford to live locally anymore. And some have even faced related evictions.

The case of Chris Butler, who was evicted from his rent-controlled apartment in San Francisco, is a prime example. Butler was evicted on the grounds that the owner's husband needed to move in — a situation legally accepted as "owner-occupied move-in," according to SF Gate (7). But Butler says the owner's husband never moved in, existing tenants were moved around and units in the building were listed on Airbnb for up to $145 per night (adding up to a lot more than the $1,840 monthly rate the tenant paid). Butler is now suing for unjust eviction.

"They forced me out of a home I loved," he said, adding that a difficult hunt ultimately culminated in him now paying over double what he was initially paying in rent.

In the meantime, many cities in the U.S. and across the globe have been cracking down on Airbnbs. Some cities, like New York (8), don't allow rentals for under 30 days unless the owner is also in the home. San Francisco also has strict regulations (9) regarding who can be an Airbnb host.

But the tension underlying the Airbnb debate reflects a larger philosophical divide. Supporters of the platform argue that STRs help ordinary homeowners earn supplemental income, especially during periods of inflation and economic uncertainty.

They also point out that housing shortages are often driven by restrictive zoning laws, underbuilding and decades of failed housing policy, rather than a single tech platform.

Some everyday homeowners benefit from STRs

There are, of course, at least two sides to every story.

"The idea that Airbnb causes the housing crisis is wrong,” Taylor Marr, Airbnb's senior housing economist, responded to the debate on X, which was shared with Moneywise. “In the more than two years since NYC all but banned Airbnb, rent has gone up 8.1% — above the national average — while vacancies have gone down. Across Airbnb's 50 biggest cities around the world, 'dedicated' listings made up only 0.4 percent of the housing stock overall."

Never mind that Airbnb has been able to afford some everyday homeowners a life of which they've always dreamed.

Lauren Marinelli, an Airbnb host in Colorado — which attracts significant ski season tourism — has been able to pursue her dream of working for herself while traveling the world as a digital nomad (living out of other Airbnbs) by renting out rooms on the platform.

She got the travel bug in 2008, which inspired her to want to work for herself so she could be free to travel when and where she wanted. But it took until 2015 to finally go out on her own and do just that — largely thanks to Airbnb.

"To start working for myself as a graphic designer, start gaining clients and start making more money, in order to survive, I ended up renting out one of my bedrooms in Denver on Airbnb to women coming to the area looking to move there," she told Moneywise. "For at least a year or two, that's how I survived."

Over a decade later, Marinelli now rents out an apartment behind her Denver home (10) and a Breckenridge, Colorado, condo (11) she bought in 2005 when she was just 25 years old, which would — unknowingly at the time — become "an amazing source of income."

Her two Airbnbs provide her enough income to live (and adventure) comfortably, in addition to her part-time graphic design work. "My rental income is basically paying my bills. I'm surviving off of it."

Kalei White, a California native, decided to purchase a property in Playa del Carmen, Mexico — her "favorite home away from home" — turning it into an Airbnb (12). She opted to invest internationally because "beyond [her] love for the area, the price point was a huge draw," she told Moneywise.

"A comparable property in San Diego, where I live, would have cost at least five times as much," she explained, noting that her condo is only a couple of blocks from the beach and the ferry to Cozumel, with a rooftop that boasts ocean views.

She decided to purchase in a place she could afford for her first real estate investment, albeit outside of her local area. While critics argue that properties are becoming financial assets more than housing solutions, White says that "sometimes, the best way to buy a home at first is to get an investment property instead of a 'starter home.'"

While her initial plan was to keep the condo for herself, she decided to rent it out on Airbnb because managing and maintaining a property that sits vacant for months at a time proved difficult to do alone. She hired a local Airbnb management company that specializes in homes owned by U.S. and Canadian citizens to keep an eye on it for her, which became "the best way to preserve the unit's value and keep it in good condition."

"The added benefit, of course, was that it helped me pay for the monthly costs and the property-management fees, themselves," she adds.

Emerging alternative platforms

As lawmakers and housing advocates continue to criticize STR platforms like Airbnb for driving up rents and reducing long-term housing supply, other tech platforms are emerging as longer-term alternatives.

"The Airbnb debate is really a supply debate," Atticus LeBlanc, founder and CEO of PadSplit (13), told Moneywise. "Every unit that shifts from long-term rental to short-term rental is one fewer home for someone who needs a place to live."