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Lisbon mayor Fernando Medina has pledged to ‘get rid of Airbnb’ once the coronavirus pandemic is over.

In a text written in English for the UK’s Independent, Mr. Medina admits that a third of the city center has been lost to holiday rentals, incurring incalculable social consequences.

The new Renda Segura (Secure Income) program launched in the Portuguese capital aims to enable key workers to return to the city center after being priced out due to a tourism boom.

The program works like this: Landlords afraid of their apartments lying empty can apply to rent them to the municipality, for a minimum term of five years. The city in turn takes on the burden of finding tenants, through an affordable housing program targeted at young people and lower-income families.

Rents are capped at levels between 450 euros per month for a one-bedroom to 1,000 euros for a generously sized house. For landlords, the income from these fixed rents might be lower than they could have earned from renting to tourists, but it is at least risk and hassle-free, and exempts them from both property and capital gains taxes.

The aim is to sign up 1,000 rentals this year. So far they have had 177 applications.

“We’ve paid a social price,” said Medina. “Essential workers and their families have increasingly been forced out as Airbnb-style holiday rentals have taken over a third of Lisbon’s city center properties, pushing up rental prices, hollowing out communities and threatening its unique character.”

Protesters demonstrate against evictions and rising rent prices in central Lisbon in September 2018.

In a statement, Airbnb said that it “helps local families stay in Lisbon and 60 percent of local hosts say the additional income they earn from hosting means they can pay the bills and support their families.”

Medina’s plan does not mean “we don’t want tourism or need visitors to return to Lisbon as quickly as possible”, he adds.“It’s simply time we do things differently and visitors will ultimately benefit”.

Why do tourists love Airbnb?

Mayor Fernando Medina’s decision to get rid of Airbnb as soon as the COVID pandemic is over does not please tourists. Indeed, this famous Portuguese city attracts a lot of visitors, yet organizing a tourist stay there is not often easy. An organization like Airbnb offers services that make this task easier. To understand this, we simply need to list the different offers of this agency.

For starters, before booking a trip, the customer can compare prices of airbnb in lisbon with cozycozy.com. Thus, he can choose the proposal that suits him. Rentals with this provider are always available in a local neighborhood, where the visitor can share his days with the locals, taste the local food and soak up the culture of the country.

The main advantage of this offer is its affordability. Indeed, the cost of hotel rooms in this city is very high, this organization allows people who wish to do so, to have a pleasant stay in Lisbon with an affordable budget. In addition to the attractive rates, this provider offers its customers a significant comfort. Also, it gives the possibility to organize trips for couples, families or friends, renting for example a whole apartment at very affordable prices.

It is understandable that visitors do not agree with the decision of the mayor of Lisbon.

The Portuguese capital is not the only European city hoping to curb Airbnb’s prospects.

Ian Brossat, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of housing, said in May that COVID-19 and subsequent fall in short-term rentals provided the city with “a unique opportunity to switch properties previously listed on Airbnb to conventional rentals and ensure that they again benefit Parisians.”

The French capital is looking at buying properties bought as investments and leased exclusively as short-term rentals from landlords who have been hard-hit by the COVID-19 crisis.

Amsterdam banned short-term vacation rentals in three central neighborhoods from July 1. Since the start of the pandemic, the Dutch city has seen 21% more rental homes on the market compared with the same time last year, an increase attributed to the decline of Airbnb’s business.

For the full text of Medina’s article click here

Benthem Crouwel Architects has been announced as the winner of a competition to design a new residential district in Prague, presented in collaboration with local firm RA15.

The competition, organized by Penta Real Estate, saw 160 entries distilled down to 44, and then 5 finalists. In a unanimous verdict, the jury praised Benthem Crouwel’s decision to integrate a large, publically-accessible park into the project.

The new residential complex is located in Nádraží Žižkov area, situated between a former freight station with abandoned train tracks and a more urban, lively city landscape. The design strikes a balance between functionality, a human scale, and contact with nature, with the placement of apartment buildings at the edge of the plot creating a large open central park.

The park is open to residents and locals, serving as a communal space for people to connect, relax, and enjoy the outdoors, while also offering a biodiverse environment where local species and plants can thrive.

The modular efficiency and straightforward design principles allow for the creation of a verity of apartments in different sizes, accommodating a diverse set of residents. In the words of the architects, the scheme “offers its residents the best of both city and nature: highly functional apartments with optimal access to urban amenities, privacy within a community, and a lush, welcoming green park right at their doorstep.”

Author: red

Why do tourists love Airbnb?

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