Air BnB -- are these people insane, or just lying? (1 Viewer)

[Brennan77]

compared to median income? i'd find that hard to believe

Good question. I'd like to look at a city like San Francisco and look at the median income of residents of the city proper along with housing costs and then compare to New Orleans. I have hunch that the scale will be similar. But what might scale New Orleans towards a higher discrepancy between income and housing costs is the fact that we still have a lot of low to middle class residents living within the city center. Of course I am making no social or moral judgement as to what a city ought to be. But that doesn't seem the norm to me for a modern large city. It's sort of the whole suburbs/commute model. In short, I just don't get the idea that New Orleans is particularly worse off in these matters than other cities.

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[guidomerkinsrules]

Good question. I'd like to look at a city like San Francisco and look at the median income of residents of the city proper along with housing costs and then compare to New Orleans. I have hunch that the scale will be similar. But what might scale New Orleans towards a higher discrepancy between income and housing costs is the fact that we still have a lot of low to middle class residents living within the city center. Of course I am making no social or moral judgement as to what a city ought to be. But that doesn't seem the norm to me for a modern large city. It's sort of the whole suburbs/commute model. In short, I just don't get the idea that New Orleans is particularly worse off in these matters than other cities.

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i was fairly sure about these rankings but i looked them up to make sure

New Orleans is the most unequal big city in America, according to a Bloomberg ranking. Areas with high levels of income inequality also often have diverse populations and high levels of residential segregation, according to a report last year from Mark Mather and Beth Jarosz at the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based non-profit group. New Orleans has both of those factors, with blacks making up 60 percent of the population in 2014 and often living in starkly different areas than whites.

The 10 Most Unequal Big Cities in America - Bloomberg

LOTS of numbers here
Housing Affordability Burden For U.S. Cities

one of the numbers i tend to pay attention to is % of income spent on rent - NO has 62% of its population spending 30% or more of its income on rent
i'm not going to look this up but i will guarantee that salaries are not keeping pace with rent increases

 

[Brennan77]

i was fairly sure about these rankings but i looked them up to make sure



The 10 Most Unequal Big Cities in America - Bloomberg

LOTS of numbers here
Housing Affordability Burden For U.S. Cities

one of the numbers i tend to pay attention to is % of income spent on rent - NO has 62% of its population spending 30% or more of its income on rent
i'm not going to look this up but i will guarantee that salaries are not keeping pace with rent increases

My point is to question whether that ratio will change when certain demographics leave the city limits because they can no longer afford it. Is the gap exaggerated because we have an abnormally large percentage of lower level workers living in the city proper in comparison to other major markets?

In other words, are we comparing apples and oranges?

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[mb504]

I can't speak for the other cities or the neighborhoods, but compared to typical downtown hotel prices in New Orleans, a 2 bedroom condo which can sleep 4 people in the CBD is a relative bargain, particularly during the busiest season from October through April.

 

[NotOnHerb]

My point is to question whether that ratio will change when certain demographics leave the city limits because they can no longer afford it. Is the gap exaggerated because we have an abnormally large percentage of lower level workers living in the city proper in comparison to other major markets?

In other words, are we comparing apples and oranges?

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The problem in New Orleans is that when you combine the fact that we are economy built on tourism that is almost entirely based downtown which requires a large number of lower level workers and combine it with our awful mass transit system and the increased costs of parking, at what point do those workers just say they can't afford to work those jobs anymore? And if they don't, what does that do to our economy as a city? Or do hotels and restaurants have to start charging more because their employees start demanding more money and in turn we lose a percentage of tourists because the city becomes too expensive?

So apples or oranges or not, this is the economy our city has chosen for itself and it won't change over night. We cannot just expect people to be able to go broke living here because we want to be like other cities yet have some of the slowest median income growth in the country.

 

[Brennan77]

The problem in New Orleans is that when you combine the fact that we are economy built on tourism that is almost entirely based downtown which requires a large number of lower level workers and combine it with our awful mass transit system and the increased costs of parking, at what point do those workers just say they can't afford to work those jobs anymore? And if they don't, what does that do to our economy as a city? Or do hotels and restaurants have to start charging more because their employees start demanding more money and in turn we lose a percentage of tourists because the city becomes too expensive?

So apples or oranges or not, this is the economy our city has chosen for itself and it won't change over night. We cannot just expect people to be able to go broke living here because we want to be like other cities yet have some of the slowest median income growth in the country.

I totally understand. And don't confuse my posts as being in support of the model that we have or in support of getting rid of a particular demographic. That's not my intention. I'm just sort of thinking out loud here and considering possible explanations.

Another thought to consider is the possibility that we are witnessing a shift in our industry here. We've got lots of new developments in the city center directly resulting from the hospitals and young professionals working downtown. For example, a recently renovated property in the Irish Channel was purchased by our friend who just got a new job at the VA hospital. Not long ago that property would have been home to someone in a decidedly different income category.

Another big question to me is whether Jefferson/New Orleans will develop a better public transit system to accommodate an increasingly dispersed service industry employee base.

 

[Brennan77]

What do other tourism driven economies do? Do the service employees live in the city core? Do they commute?

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[Saint_Ward]

What do other tourism driven economies do? Do the service employees live in the city core? Do they commute?

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Mix of both from my experience. Also, more likely to have room mates.

 

[insidejob]

Good point, I forgot about the new FIRM maps. Is it possible you could link the final version? I cannot find it by googling.

RiskMAP6

New maps. Have fun navigating.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

What do other tourism driven economies do? Do the service employees live in the city core? Do they commute?

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Wondering about transportation
1. Is transportation funding mostly a municipal or a state thing?
2. NO's recent transportation money has mostly gen to new streetcar lines - can't imagine those do that much to help commuters

 

[GhostFace]

We went to California this summer, the last leg of the trip was 4 days L.A.

I Air BnB'd a house in Los Feliz (which was exactly where I wanted to be due to my plans and location) with a private pool, for $150/night.

This was a great neighborhood and a prime location in L.A.

The house across the street from us was for rent, if I remember correctly, it was 3br,2bth. Anyway, it was for rent for $1600/mnth. This was in a crime free, walkable area.

We live in Mid-City New Orleans, and rent a 3br, 2bth double shotgun half, for $1500/mnth

While I love Mid-City, I love New Orleans, and I live on a nice street and rent a pretty nice place, it is not comparable to where I was in L.A.

The house and location in L.A. for rent, were it in New Orleans, would easily be $2700/mnth and it would have to be in Lakeview.

.

 

[NotOnHerb]

I totally understand. And don't confuse my posts as being in support of the model that we have or in support of getting rid of a particular demographic. That's not my intention. I'm just sort of thinking out loud here and considering possible explanations.

Another thought to consider is the possibility that we are witnessing a shift in our industry here. We've got lots of new developments in the city center directly resulting from the hospitals and young professionals working downtown. For example, a recently renovated property in the Irish Channel was purchased by our friend who just got a new job at the VA hospital. Not long ago that property would have been home to someone in a decidedly different income category.

Another big question to me is whether Jefferson/New Orleans will develop a better public transit system to accommodate an increasingly dispersed service industry employee base.

Look at the money being spent on building a street car in lieu of building true mass transit and you can clearly see the city has no intention of pushing other industry.

Mitch has his grand plan that the tricentennial would be his giant accomplishment and everything during his administration has been setting it up to be the grand party to end his term. We just have to be thankful that he didn't have the power to push as hard as the world's fair was pushed or the city could be really screwed.