Editorial: Short Term Limits

When the Airbnb Revolution began, the model was that of a homeowner renting out a room in their primary residence to make a few extra bucks. That sounds innocent enough, but the current state of affairs in Kingston is very. Of the approximately 200 short-term rentals in Kingston, more than nine out of 10 – 91 percent! – of them are vacation rentals. That figure comes from For the Many, which is campaigning to have them abolished altogether in Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Newburgh. For reference purposes, Newburgh’s number is 86 percent; Poughkeepsie’s is 64 percent. For the Many cited the website airdna.co for the data; city officials say the number for Kingston is accurate.

A little under 200 properties taken off the rental or sale market doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s pointed to as one of the reasons the rent is too damn high in Kingston. Suffice to say if an affordable housing project of 190 units is proposed, that would be a big story.