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Homesick: Why Housing Is Unaffordable and How We Can Change It
Nobody who sits in traffic on Sedona, Arizona's main stretch or stands shoulder-to-shoulder in its many souvenir shops would call it a ghost town.
Neither would anyone renting a room for $2,000 a month or buying a house for a half-million dollars. And yet the people who built this small town and made it a community are being pushed further and further out. Their home is being sold out from under their feet.
In studying the impact of short-term rentals, Brendan O'Brien saw something similar happening in places ranging from Bend, Oregon, to Bar Harbor, Maine. But it isn't just short-term rentals, and it's not just tourism towns. Neighborhoods in Austin and Atlanta have become rows of investment properties. Longtime residents in Spokane and Boston have been replaced by new, high-salaried remote workers. Across the country, a level of unaffordable housing that once seemed unique to global cities like New York and San Francisco has become the norm, with nearly a third of all US households considered housing cost burdened.
This situation has been abetted by the direct actions of developers, politicians, and existing homeowners who have sought to drive up the cost of housing. But it's mostly happened due to a society-wide refusal to see housing as anything more than real estate, another product available to the highest bidder. This trend of putting local housing on a global market has worsened in recent years but is nothing new. Housing in the United States has always been marred by racial and income inequality that mocks the country's highest ideals.
Deeply researched and deeply felt, Homesick argues that we can be so much better. And we can start where we live.
Neither would anyone renting a room for $2,000 a month or buying a house for a half-million dollars. And yet the people who built this small town and made it a community are being pushed further and further out. Their home is being sold out from under their feet.
In studying the impact of short-term rentals, Brendan O'Brien saw something similar happening in places ranging from Bend, Oregon, to Bar Harbor, Maine. But it isn't just short-term rentals, and it's not just tourism towns. Neighborhoods in Austin and Atlanta have become rows of investment properties. Longtime residents in Spokane and Boston have been replaced by new, high-salaried remote workers. Across the country, a level of unaffordable housing that once seemed unique to global cities like New York and San Francisco has become the norm, with nearly a third of all US households considered housing cost burdened.
This situation has been abetted by the direct actions of developers, politicians, and existing homeowners who have sought to drive up the cost of housing. But it's mostly happened due to a society-wide refusal to see housing as anything more than real estate, another product available to the highest bidder. This trend of putting local housing on a global market has worsened in recent years but is nothing new. Housing in the United States has always been marred by racial and income inequality that mocks the country's highest ideals.
Deeply researched and deeply felt, Homesick argues that we can be so much better. And we can start where we live.
338 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 19, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 18, 2023
The US has disconnected housing from its core social purpose of providing people with a place to live with security and dignity-the financialization of the home. Housing gains value dramatically unlike any other products. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
The Great Recession and housing market crash happened right when smart phones took off. Suddenly Airbnbs took off and every space became accessible to the wealthy and pushed the poor out.
This book explore the housing crisis from many viewpoints and ends up offering some solutions. It was challenging but worth the effort.
The Great Recession and housing market crash happened right when smart phones took off. Suddenly Airbnbs took off and every space became accessible to the wealthy and pushed the poor out.
This book explore the housing crisis from many viewpoints and ends up offering some solutions. It was challenging but worth the effort.
November 14, 2023
Found this topic very fascinating as a person who utilizes Airbnbs when I travel on occasion. Brendan goes over airbnbs start back in 2007 after the market crash. Government officials have been saying that housing is unaffordable because there’s not enough supply but Brendan uncovers that is not the truth.
A new term for me was a zombie town instead of a ghost town which was so interesting and made total sense. Appears to be booming but no one really lives their full time, you don’t know your neighbors and no sense of community. I never truly realized the impact short term rentals have on their community and Brendan really brought it to light. Especially since I am an Airbnb guest sometimes you realize how you can impact someone else’s community.
Investors are the ones who dominate these cities buying up the real estate for the income potential, not a singular person renting out a room to make ends meet. Not only do the potential homeowners/renters suffer but so do the local shops who lack employees in the area to fill shifts or schools who have low enrollment due to short term rentals taking over. These short term rentals or even non primary homes don’t need to adhere to the same rules as other commercial businesses and it makes everything very messy.
I thought it was smart to really showcase a few places around the US and do a deep dive on those. The national numbers are hard to gauge and this puts real numbers to the problems. You can see the devastating effects non primary homes and income properties can have on tourist locations especially.
Loved that there were three parts of where we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. There are actionable items that Brendan gives which left me feeling a lot less helpless by the end. It gives different advice depending on who you are and I feel like that was important to see the different levels of change we can make. #goodreadsgiveaway
A new term for me was a zombie town instead of a ghost town which was so interesting and made total sense. Appears to be booming but no one really lives their full time, you don’t know your neighbors and no sense of community. I never truly realized the impact short term rentals have on their community and Brendan really brought it to light. Especially since I am an Airbnb guest sometimes you realize how you can impact someone else’s community.
Investors are the ones who dominate these cities buying up the real estate for the income potential, not a singular person renting out a room to make ends meet. Not only do the potential homeowners/renters suffer but so do the local shops who lack employees in the area to fill shifts or schools who have low enrollment due to short term rentals taking over. These short term rentals or even non primary homes don’t need to adhere to the same rules as other commercial businesses and it makes everything very messy.
I thought it was smart to really showcase a few places around the US and do a deep dive on those. The national numbers are hard to gauge and this puts real numbers to the problems. You can see the devastating effects non primary homes and income properties can have on tourist locations especially.
Loved that there were three parts of where we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. There are actionable items that Brendan gives which left me feeling a lot less helpless by the end. It gives different advice depending on who you are and I feel like that was important to see the different levels of change we can make. #goodreadsgiveaway
June 23, 2024
Reads like a magazine article lamenting the loss of community in tourist towns due to so many homes being bought by AirBNB. It quite literally focuses only on tourist towns, so I can't recommend it. I wish the author had either branched out, or at least included that fact in the subtitle. It's a little bit like a speech at a political rally where they share a lot of anecdotes and try to inspire the reader to see how things could be done another way, but without any real details about that other way. And it’s so light on details then that it should’ve been a shorter book.
"Homes requires community. That’s why there’s something intangible lost when neighborhoods see frequent turnover and become hosts to empty spaces."
To the author, the answers are:
* Community Land Trusts, where public owns the land that is built upon and rented
* Public Housing
* Encouraging people to not stay in AirBNBs that are in single family home communities that the owner doesn't live in.
It's interesting that the author says that local solutions are what's necessary rather than global. For tourist towns, I can see this. But OTOH, if we solved high housing prices (I think we can but won't) second homes should be less common, because housing would cease to be an investment.
I discovered this because it was next to the book I reserved from my library, and read/skimmed through it pretty quickly.
"Homes requires community. That’s why there’s something intangible lost when neighborhoods see frequent turnover and become hosts to empty spaces."
To the author, the answers are:
* Community Land Trusts, where public owns the land that is built upon and rented
* Public Housing
* Encouraging people to not stay in AirBNBs that are in single family home communities that the owner doesn't live in.
It's interesting that the author says that local solutions are what's necessary rather than global. For tourist towns, I can see this. But OTOH, if we solved high housing prices (I think we can but won't) second homes should be less common, because housing would cease to be an investment.
I discovered this because it was next to the book I reserved from my library, and read/skimmed through it pretty quickly.
September 29, 2023
The author captures a feeling that is often too big to pin down or express. He weaves in stories of Americans across the country and his own experiences, of big tech impact, COVID, “the American Dream,” and individuals just trying to find their way. This book cuts across all audiences and divides. Housing encompasses everything. And we are homesick for a time and place and sense of belonging. ‘Homesick’ is a must read by individuals, book clubs, and policymakers.
February 19, 2025
O’Brien often seems to drift from the central topic of housing, but he artfully winds his way back to it, interweaving a seemingly unrelated topic into a landscape of today’s housing reality.
As with all books of this nature, it starts a bit slow. Then you get angry. Then there’s the solutions, which are always a bit of a toss-up. But O’Brien does an excellent job of blending small changes for every day folk with major, innovative policy changes.
As with all books of this nature, it starts a bit slow. Then you get angry. Then there’s the solutions, which are always a bit of a toss-up. But O’Brien does an excellent job of blending small changes for every day folk with major, innovative policy changes.
February 10, 2024
Just the right balance of statistics, economics, history, and idealism make this a fascinating read about a poignant topic. I learned a lot and am inspired to speak more knowledgeably on behalf of change in my community.
November 9, 2023
This is an interesting topic but this book is DRY. Reads like a textbook (in the worst possible way). DNF'd at page 48.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews