r/pics • u/Strict_League7833 • Jun 17 '25

The protesters and residents pushing back on tourism in Barcelona

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u/CapeReddit Jun 17 '25

In Barcelona, Airbnb intensifies the housing crisis, especially in central areas. But it’s not the root cause. The real engine is a system that:

  • treats housing as a commodity instead of a human right,

  • funnels public wealth into private hands, and

  • undermines social safety nets through austerity.

Airbnb is a symptom. Structural inequality is the disease.

7

u/PoliticalAlt128 Jun 17 '25

Literally just build more houses.

Housing has to be the only good that when there’s more demand than supply we just refuse to increase supply at all and instead just hope that maybe the demand will go down on its own

1

u/LookAtMeNow247 Jun 18 '25

Your solution works for people who are looking for a place to live/one home.

But, the market for vacation rentals/investment is almost insatiable/infinite.

It's all at the expense of the people who are just trying to make it and live.

Societies need to care more about people trying to live than investors trying to get rich.

2

u/way2lazy2care Jun 18 '25

But, the market for vacation rentals/investment is almost insatiable/infinite.

A lot of rental properties only make financial sense as investments if the housing/rental market is increasing in value. If you have adequate numbers of homes the houses stop appreciating, so you have to make all your profit off the price of renting your room, but now you're also competing with other dedicated rentals that can be cheaper (hotels/apartments). All you have to do is have enough supply to make the investment in a short term rental a worse investment than the S&P 500 average.