In Joshua Tree, Are 1,818 Airbnbs Too Many?

Apr 7, 2022
In Joshua Tree, Are 1,818 Airbnbs Too Many?

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Tonya Hansel, 36, who has been dwelling within the space since she was 4, shares this concern. For the previous eight years, she has been cleansing short-term leases. She usually works seven days every week to make ends meet. Nonetheless, in the case of seeing her 14-year-old daughter, it’s higher than her earlier gig as a physique piercer, she stated.

However final month, she misplaced the factor that allowed her household to outlive on $65 to $150 a cleansing: her $575-a-month hire.

In 2014, when she moved into her two-bedroom residence on the north aspect of downtown Joshua Tree, there have been solely a handful of short-term leases close by, however they had been in nicer neighborhoods.

However then traders started to see her neighborhood as prime lodging territory. At first, as renovators outnumbered heavy drug customers, “it cleaned up the neighborhood,” she stated. However then it grew to become eerie as she realized that the households she used to run into had been gone and that nearly each home was a short-term rental with “the identical white, black and grey paint, shiny fence and fairy lights.”

These didn’t appear to be owned by the “jumble of artists and weirdos” — like her shopper Mr. Giuliano of the Desert Yacht Membership. Quite they appeared to be owned by individuals who noticed leases as “simple cash.”

In January, Ms. Hansel discovered that her lease could be terminated in 60 days as a result of her landlord was transforming. It’s unattainable to discover a place, she stated in February, as she started packing up, “as a result of it’s both an Airbnb or it’s thrice what I can afford.”

On the final minute, she discovered a brief $800 one-bedroom in Landers, about 15 miles from Joshua Tree. It’s not superb, Ms. Hansel stated, noting that her daughter can now not stroll to highschool. However, she stated, “we’re protected for now.”

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Supply- nytimes