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Detroit Decides Against Banning Airbnb -- For Now (detroitnews.com) 37

Posted by BeauHD from the just-kidding dept.
Building officials say they will not enforce an apparent city ban of some Airbnb rentals until there is a legal review of an ordinance that went into effect this week. Detroit News reports: The ordinance, approved by the Detroit City Council in November, prohibits an owner-occupied-unit to be used for paid overnight guests. According to information listed online in the Detroit City Code, the rule went into effect Feb. 6, catching some city officials by surprise.

"Detroit homeowners have been able to rent out a room in their homes for more than 100 years, and we don't believe the new ordinance was intended to take away that right," said David Bell, director of the Buildings, Safety Engineering & Environmental Department for the City of Detroit, in a statement Friday. "The ordinance as written appears to ban all homeowners from having even their own friends and relatives stay at their homes if that friend or relative is paying them rent. The public was never told that was intended. I have asked the law department to review this question and give (the department) guidance." "Until the law department review is complete, (the department) will not be ticketing homeowners for renting out rooms in their own residence, whether through Airbnb or otherwise," Bell said. "(The department) and the administration will be working with City Council to resolve these issues."
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Detroit Decides Against Banning Airbnb -- For Now More

Detroit Decides Against Banning Airbnb -- For Now

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  • This is a little tongue in cheek but Detroit is not high up on my list of places that I would want to visit anyway. If I did go there, I would stay in a hotel versus in someone's house.

    • This is a little tongue in cheek but Detroit is not high up on my list of places that I would want to visit anyway.

      But keep in mind that Detroit's knee-jerk anti-business government, as demonstrated by this ordinance, is the reason that Detroit is such a SH to begin with.

      With 10% unemployment, they should be welcoming economic opportunities rather than pushing them away.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 )

      Yeah, I'm pretty sure the almost universal reaction to this story is shock that Detroit has any BnBs to begin with.

      Top reviews:

      I'm a huge nostalgia nut, so I loved how they went out of their way to make it look like a burned-out, abandoned Victorian home. The actors pretending to be crackheads really added to the flavor too. 5 stars!

      I loved how our room came stocked with an ample supply of ammo and bandages. Will definitely recommend to friends!

      The service was top-notch. The owners went out of their way to

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Creating a legislative balance between someone being able to rent their investment residence vs some dick turning their investment into a weekly party house and fuck the neighbours (hell force them to sell and buy cheap). Yup, pretty much greedy psychopathic arseholes fuck everything up for everyone else, pretty much all of the fucking time and force a whole range or regulations to keep the criminal freaks under control. We could test for them early, it's genetic and 'abort' the problem before it becomes on

  • As demonstrated by this ordinance, approved by the Detroit City Council.

  • Can we not get modern 'appy app' business ideas that HELP neighborhoods in some way instead of causing problems for them?
  • That's clever. Detroit doesn't ban Airbbnb, but they might ban Airbnb.

  • Flim Springfield

  • because this is way, way too much of an about face for anything else.

  • Hotel Business (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I'm assuming that this was pushed through by lobbyists acting on behalf of Hotel's.

    Airbnb is great, cheaper than hotels and spreads people throughout the city (when there is a big event on, and I imagine Detroit has some large automotive conferences), it reduces congestion and reduces business's ability to hike prices on those days.

    This law to me, seems to want to place that money in big corporations and conglomerates, rather than people that actually live in the city.

    If it's a Taxis, Hotels, Space Travel,

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 )

      Most city councilmen in Detroit hold an auction once a month for their vote. Last month, the hotels won.

  • Translation ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by John Jorsett ( 171560 ) on Saturday February 10, 2018 @12:56PM (#56100649)

    "I have asked the law department to review this question and give (the department) guidance."

    Translation: We've gotten enormous blowback and are scurrying for some face-saving way to roll this back before the torch-and-pitchfork crowd descends on us.

    • The reason your analysis is so weak is that you think of the gubermint as one entity, but clearly here the City Council did something stupid without talking to the City employees, and those City Employees are not "saving face" at all; they're doing a totally different thing called "covering their own asses." If they can get the lawyers, who are a third independent group here, to say that the ordinance is illegal then they aren't permitted to enforce it. And then they're the heros who saved Detroit. From the

  • Can't wait! My trip back to beautiful Detroit with it's many tourist sites is back on!

  • The ordinance, approved by the Detroit City Council in November, prohibits an owner-occupied-unit to be used for paid overnight guests.

    Government controlling businesses is Fascism [ronpaulinstitute.org]. Just saying... "Pursuit of happiness" my tail.

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