The Oregonian – Portland has lost 1,000 affordable homes to short-term rentals

September 1, 2016
On Wednesday, at a hearing where the Portland City Council decided to extend the “housing emergency” for another year, Portland Housing Bureau Director Kurt Creager gave testimony about what he and his bureau see as one of the causes of homelessness: short-term rentals, like Airbnb, taking formerly affordable homes off the market. “One third of homes that are short-term rentals were previously available as affordable housing stock on the open rental market,” Creager said Thursday over the phone. He estimated the cost of replacing those units to be $380 million….
Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/09/portland_has_lost_1000_afforda.html