I came here from the Medium comment section! Interesting - it’s gross that someone who doesn’t live in a community can have 40!! rental units, 100 air bnbs! And with no limits Wow!!
I'm working on building up a six acre regenerative farm in Twentynine palms, hopefully if God grants I'm able to add additional housing on the acreage to help some of these displaced locals.
I've owned my home in North Joshua Tree for 30 years. I knew all my neighbors and volunteered at the community center. Now, they are all Air BnBs and I don't know anyone but I'm quickly being hedged in.
Great video. Really captures the nature of the problem. I lived in Joshua Tree 4 years ago and it was a problem then. I now live in New Mexico and it is happening in the small town I live in now. Air b&b is like a cancer sucking up rental options all over the country at this point. They need to be severely limited if not banned in light of a nation-wide housing crisis.
Keep up the fight you guys - I live in a tourist destination area and something like 40% of all houses are 2nd homes or STRs. STRs, at least, should be regulated and limited in number to a proportion of total available housing-----------------
when i first moved to JT, ALL of my neighbors were addicts. NOW I have a beautiful mix of family home owners as well as corporate air bnb owners and I dont have needles and beer cans on my front lawn anymore. Again, I think this video is really narrow and not 100% truthful.
I agree. This video is bias. I know someone who lives in Joshua Tree and has lived there for over 10 years. His story about how investors changed and "cleaned up the place" was very similar to yours. Sure it hurt some of the small business owners because some of their employees can no longer afford the rising rent, but it also brought more business to them overall.
So in essence what you’re REALLY saying Jen, is because you don’t agree with the video, it’s narrow and not 100% truthful right? Also, are you a licensed Drug and Alcohol therapist? I have friends who live in JT. They paint a very different scenario than the one you do. On any given weekend, these guests are up until all hours of the evening blasting music, partying and even fighting in a neighborhood that was once reserved for families. It’s easy to see this issue through ‘Rose Colored’ glasses when it benefits you. Not everyone likes these vacation rentals because there is a huge downside to them. I’ve lived in the Basin for 36 years now. Has it always been perfect? No way! But, there used to be a sense of community around here. Sadly, that has been replaced with GREEDY investors who don’t care one iota about the Hi-Desert or its citizens. Who cares if families are displaced? The only thing they’re concerned with, is their accounts. I’m glad you seem to love Corporate America. Most ppl like me do not like it! I’m longing for the day that communities like ours, focuses on families, rather than GREED! I’d much rather deal with local ‘Tweakers.’ Than spoiled, entitled brats any day!
This is true. Druggies are a lot less now in JT. it was trashed before. And now these people are mad that the economy is going up in JT. it’s cleaned up
It seems that some JT residents won't be happy until it starts to look like the inner city, with multi-story apt. units, which will bring more roads, traffic and commerce to what was once a desert oasis.
How about all of the Asian, Canadian, French, German, British investors that are purchasing property in America? How about we also limit hedge funds like Black rock to be able to invest in real estate at such an alarming rate. Stop beating up on Airbnb hosts!
I agree. Many are often quick to hate on landlords and AirBnB hosts. Usually, the haters tend to be people who hate investing and want free housing and money from the government. These people also tend to lack a career probably due to poor life choices. Some even hate investors who buy remote unimproved land to build a property for short term rental. A few days ago, I came across two guys talking about how landlords were the problem with the housing crisis. They believed all housing in the US should be free and that landlords were evil for charging people rent...
why is it okay for her but not for the rest of us who are locals and DO live in JT???? In her effort to stop big corporations she is stopping me from renting my guest house on air bnb!!!!
@@idavidgraficks123 San Bernardino county does not know the difference between an investor owned property with an absentee owner and a house like mine where I live there and I also STR to make ends meet. They tax us the same, they make us pay the same rates for creating the STR business they hold us to the same regulations as the big investors. Basically most of the STR $ I make goes right back to SBC and the state of California AND the high cleaning and repair rates. House keepers and repair men make more per hour in JT than they do in San Diego, LA and San Fran. I don't blame them for taking advantage of the situation but it's not the owner occupied people who are causing the problem and I am sick of being lumped in with the huge investors.
@@goglobalgirlent Does an Investor owned company have a CA Drivers License? How about only two STRs to a Drivers license or CA ID? We're WAY AHEAD OF YOU.
We lived this. We had 2 homes that we rented sold . One of those houses we lived in for 9 years. By the time we were able to buy, we were no competition for investors. In our case- we had to pack up and move 2 states away. My kids grew up in Joshua Tree. We lived there for 21 years. My youngest child was born there. Now- we are finding our way in a new community . It's not easy, but we were blessed with the ability to buy a home here. I know my oldest misses his home and has a hard time with the changes. We really didn't have a choice. We were forced to leave.
I can feel your pain. Thank you for sharing this from your perspective as a long time resident. We all need to care about this, even if it is not your reality. I pray daily the best is yet to come. WWG1WGA
The permit costs for building a new house is what has made this a crisis. 20k for a water meter that costs less than 200 dollars, another 20k in permits easy I have an Airbnb next door that is basically trying to kill my dog and think I am apart of the scenery. the reasons the AirBnbs work is because there are no hotels for the park. Airbnb saved this area from Meth which the local government did nothing about for years!! The county does permit multi familes!!! Yucca Valley government is insanely corrupt and in debt. The State of California is even worse. It's just time to leave Cali. I hope Bobby is well
I am tired of hearing that the locals have brought this on themselves. Locals do not make the money to afford $500 thousand to million dollar homes in this area. It’s corporations and investors from outside the area that buy houses and property at extremely high prices. This has forced the market for a house out of reach for locals. Most of the time it is shacks and old homes that should be priced low but are bought at prices that locals can not afford.
How many times do home builders try to build housing tracts out here and it’s these same people who try to block it because they need to save the Joshua Trees? The same people are the ones that are spying on land owners that wanna build a house for themselves in retirement age and they’re spying on them with their cell phones and posting it on social media and screaming about how we need to run them out of town because they remove to Joshua tree from their own damn property. These people don’t even live in Yucca Valley and they’re trying to block housing development in Yucca Valley. And then they brag about how they vote for more trees and less people. So yes they bring it on themselves.
This is heartbreaking.. I live in Yucca Valley.. is there a petition we can put together, sign? Who do we reach out to? How do we make our voices heard and most importantly what can we do to help??
Hi Sepideh -- Write a comment letter to the county at BoardMeetingComments@cob.sbcounty.gov by JUNE 9TH. Subject line: “STR policy review June 14th “. Comments will be accepted up until the meeting, but earlier is better. Written comments are important as they go in the record. Without question though, the best thing to do is also to go in person to comment on June 14th, at either: County Government Center 385 N. Arrowhead Avenue, 1st Flr San Bernardino, CA 92415 or at the following remote video conferencing locations: Bob Burke Government Center 63665 Twentynine Palms Highway 1st flr Joshua Tree, CA 92252 We have been told multiple times that people showing up to the meeting, matters! Comments that are clear, to the point, heartfelt, and factual are the most effective. The Supervisors need to understand the impacts of so many short-term rentals. 23% of our homes in Joshua Tree have now been converted into STRs.
Are you kidding? They do fund raisers and send the money to Ukraine and then expect their neighbors who are successful to let their rights be infringed upon and pick up the slack for people who make poor life choices. These are the same people that don’t even live in the town of Yucca Valley and anytime a homebuilder wants to build a housing tracked in the town of Yucca Valley they scream and yell and scream about the Joshua trees and how people are killing the environment. And then they scream about how there’s not enough housing here so go figure. Encouraging people to spy on their neighbors who own land and want to build a house and then post it on social media and say how we need to run them out of town because you know it’s an older couple trying to build a retirement home for themselves and they can afford to live out here on their pension or whatever and they remove a Joshua tree. So guess what. I vote for people to be able to do what they want with their own property.
Outstaing video, very well done in informative. I will send this to the powers that be. I, mysofe, and our nonprofit The New Earth Army are focused on homelessness and affordable housing, among other things and we completely agree with this. AFFORDABLE HOUSING NOW!
i just looked up rentals in my area in JT and there are plenty. 401 properties are listed as long term rentals in the desert area. I am confused as to why people can not find a place to live?
Sometimes there are available housing, and the Landlords Say "No" there is much evil going on, they are Putting Unnecessary and unrealistic demands on people who are Looking to Rent, like "Perfect" Credit, and High Income that Nobody is making these days!.
Really?? I’m calling BS on your comment. More than 700 school aged children and their families are struggling to find a place to live or homeless thanks to STVRs. These 401 properties aren’t affordable for most long-term renters. Glad, we own our home! I’d much rather deal with the local “tweekers” than the coddled LA types or their ilk any day!
Problem is the state makes it too risky to rent long term. We brought this on ourselves. People refusing to pay rent has created more short term rentals. This is happening all over southern ca. La county is worse
And they extended the moratorium until June 2023. Let's protect the renters and not the property owners. You are right, this is a big part of the problem.
Thank you for making this! You should change the title to "Short Term Rental Crisis in the Morongo Basin" to make this more searchable so more people can find and watch this - then I'd suggest putting "Joshua Tree, Yucca Valley, 29 Palms.." etc in the description. Searches for these issues have been way up since the NYTimes article and this video is an important piece of that conversation!
@@roberthaydon6387 Both Yucca Valley and 29 Palms Town Councils have put limitations to STRs. This video was made for the County Supervisors as their appointed Planning Commissioners said "there's no problem" with STRs in the Morongo Basin. Joshua Tree has been the voice of unincorporated County for decades.
@@idavidgraficks123 The problem, at least in 29, is that the limit is TOO HIGH! When you look at the current map there are already over-saturated areas.
If zoning laws allow STR's but not tiny plots of land for tiny affordable houses, or more apartments and shelters, then it's not really about freedom and capitalism, it's essentially communism: government interfering with a free market. But in any case, I support whatever works for children and everyone, regardless of what ideology it falls into. Shelter is a basic need, and this is greed gone wild. We have become one nation under greed.
This made me cry..still does! We need action now! Thank you so much for doing this, and bringing light to a devastating situation! 💔🏜 We love our desert!
You know what? A person who owns a house has the right to sell it. A renter is just that a renter. No one is obligated to rent to you at their expense. You don’t have the right to tell people what to do with their own property or who to rent it to or for how long. This is America remember? You are aiming your anger in the wrong direction. Homelessness is not caused by AirBnb. Property and housing costs are up everywhere. Keep voting for more taxes and who pays most? The poor. Market saturation takes care of itself. If people aren’t profitable with their STR’s they stop doing it. We have a thing called property rights in this country. The county cannot legally enforce any restrictions. You can’t stop people from buying property. Focus on a part of your life that you can control. You’ll be much happier. I have an idea. How about having a fundraiser over there at Furstwurld and pool all your money together and buy some properties and fix them up and run them out to some low income people at your own expense and keep fundraising for these people and see how fun it is. See how much you like it when it starts eating away at your pocket or how you like being called a white supremecist because you know you expect a rent check on time. People are cashing out their income property and getting out because it’s just not worth it to rent to full timers anymore with the headache and the California laws that make it harder on property owners. Have you ever thought of that? And rental property is an investment for the owner not a charitable donation to the community. . Because what you all are trying to propose that the county and government do is a total infringement on property rights. How about thinking of some creative solutions instead of running to the government and asking them to infringe on peoples right? It’s the kind of thing they do in communist countries like China. And unfortunately for all of us that’s where we are on the verge of living. And seriously what is this guy talking about there’s nowhere for people to go to the restroom? The visitor center right there in Joshua tree has restrooms the gas stations have restrooms all the restaurants have restrooms. Dollar General has restrooms. What are you even talking about? And I’m sure all the str’s that the people are staying at have full bathrooms. You people sound like a bunch of lying propagandists to me.
Housing crisis is larger than STRs and is a regional, statewide problem. At this point affordability is far beyond stopping STRs. New housing starts were at a fifty year low last decade. Due to material costs, permitting, labor, and taxes not much can be built for under $500/sf sales price.
Yes. The cost of permits and taxes, and the lack of zoning for small and multi-family lots, continues to prevent the construction of new affordable housing. The STR problem removes much of the existing supply of affordable housing from the market.
Sounds like if you are a short-term rental owner/operator, then YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM. And it doesn’t seem to matter if you live here, or if you only have one vacation property (and they have ten vacation properties). The finger pointing is out of control.
2 bedroom for 1600 a month, THAT IS CHEAP. I am a local I feel bad for anyone who cant find a home but these claims are not truthful. there ARE long term rentals. There are LOTS of locals who would love to air bnb just a room in their house who now can not because the county is lumping investors in with local owners as the same thing.
I find it ironic that there are two people in this video speaking against vacation rentals that *own* vacation rentals - like "I can do it but you can't." Granted, corporations aren't people, but it still seems a little... i dunno, weird.
It's not weird, it's honesty. They were both involved over a decade ago in Vacation Rentals BEFORE AirBnB. I know them both - Joshua Tree is a small community. AirBnB was initially started as a homeowner renting A Room with an AIR mattress (thus the Air in AirBnB). Of course, the way of unregulated CAPITALISM is to Overdo Overdo and Overdo. Now comes the Investor Crowd and our "local' government is slow to react. Every fourth home in the USA is now Investor owned and in Joshua Tree it's probably two times that. Joshua Tree is now at about 25-30% STRs.
Lol let me know when any of these business are going to pay a reasonable wage for people to stay there. Joshua tree has been expensive almost all my life (27 years old) so I don’t see how u can put this one on the investor who obviously isn’t doing anything illegal. This falls upon the people who live there as well as the city government since it seems like there are illegal operations. Also to the people saying they are being displaced unfortunately it makes no sense to me this boom has been going on for like a decade and ramped up a lot over the last five years yet no one is saying anything really about the city or county
The fact you think that Joshua Tree has "city government" informs us of the level of understanding you have. Joshua Tree has been forever UNINCORPORATED. That means our Planning Decision Makers are 80 miles away in San Bernardino. The "Investors" are taking opportunity of a distant and so far, uncaring County Government which this video was made for.
I'm in Los Angeles where they did have to impose some STR restrictions, we have a huge population, and with all of the construction and environmental regulations in CA, new construction cannot possibly keep up with population growth. With a certain percentage of property owners/ investors deciding STR was a better option, and who can blame them, it takes away a percentage of permanent housing and creates a shortage, which increases the cost to buy or rent a home and makes it unaffordable to many residents. Working people cannot keep up with the investors, who just keep getting in on more and more of the housing market. Progress must be welcomed, however at what cost? Making the cost of living unaffordable for working people to just EXIST is not reasonable. Then I see some of you say we should just move if we can't afford it, but I suspect those people have probably not had to work for what they have, as many "investors" have not. Just like you, working people value their community and families too. And someone has to work in the restaurants and do general labor so all of the wealthy people can live their comfortable, entitled lives. Why can't we figure out a way to accommodate working people as well as "investors"? I think there have to be some restrictions. Huge companies owning a hundred STR properties in JT alone is what is pushing this over the edge. I understand capitalism is a great system, but obviously we cannot trust wealthy people to play nice, if you see what they have purposely done to our food and medicine over the decades, all in the name of the almighty dollar. More laws and restrictions do not seem like a great solution, but what is happening now is creating unnecessary poverty. It's WRONG.
No offense, but is it really fair to say that STRs are the reason the community is ruined, or people's lives are ruined. Seems like there are some bigger issues at play as well, long before STRs even existed. Seems more like pick something to blame, vs, stepping back and looking at the whole community holistically. I've heard of pushing back for any kind of progress, from stores that would provide jobs, just because of the mindset, of "get out of my town". I'm all for the conversation, but it's hard to have it be so one sided as the "cause for all the problems".
Lol a residential single family home is not a commercial property. These people are complaining about what every area in demand is faced and has faced with for the last 100 years.
Balanced regulation needs to take place. All outside institutional STR ownership should be banned. That said, this video is extremely slanted. STRs have brought much needed investment into the area. Turned around meth-head neighborhoods and brought millions in tourism dollars to the area’s local businesses - and jobs. The creators of this video failed to mention any of that. This is a one-sided view
The Joshua Tree Chamber of Commerce was the ONLY agency in the Morongo Basin FOR the 1994 Desert Protection Act. 29 Palms and Yucca Valley were AGAINGST all that tourism and jobs. "one sided" - well yes, we're presenting the socially disturbing DOWNSIDE of Investor owned STRs. Greatly upsetting many peoples lives.
Balanced regulation would include allowing tiny parcels with tiny houses and also glamping which is a business competitor of STR's. Also zoning allowing more trailer parks and apartments and not eliminating existing trailer parks through zoning changes.
Since being displaced, my husband has lost his leg, due to burns sustained by a faulty faucet in our new rental. There seems to be no legal recourse either. Our lives will never be the same, because we were forced to move, so an Air BnB could be in a residential neighborhood.
Oh Brother! Are you kidding me? You traded meth head’s money for BnB money. You’ve kept legitimate business out of JT for decades. There is plenty of housing in 29 and YV. Y’all brought this on yourselves.
MBCA didn't "import" meth heads and MBCA didn't invite Investor owned STRs. MBCA is attempting to help remedy a housing imbalance by a surprised and so far, uncaring County. Thank you for representing your community.
@@Rays_Bad_Decisions It's more the County not caring than the State. The State's Housing Agency has a long list of corrections needed by the County in housing data organization of the Housing Element.
@@idavidgraficks123 lol what part of the state is not totally broken and overpriced? Redwood groves that did not have fires in 2000years burnt down under Newsom. They cannot even move water. San Fran spend 80k a year per homeless person on Non Profits. La has been broken forever. Now San Diego is collapsing. Does anyone know where the extra 2dollars a gallon we pay in gas goes???
I have a mixed feeling about this. My husband is retiring soon and he really like to live in the desert full time when that happens. So we went with the battle of the bidders for the past two years looking for single family homes but was to no luck. This year we finally found 5ac vacant lot in Morongo. Which is really nice location, but costs 5times more since 2018. We’re now planning to build our house in there and boy those permit and fee fees are not cheap. Pension is not reliable if u solely depends on it. Now prices keeps going up. They should just allow homeowners have some income. Especially retirees. Anyways, homeowners should have freedom on what they want to do in their property. The tourists are good for the business. Of all the taxes they charge on these rentals, they should at least build a shelter or have affordable housing. Maybe they should have certain areas that only locals can purchase that they will actually live the area for the other people that don’t like the idea of new neighbors every week. But then again you should be able to do what you want to do with your hard earned money. Or give jobs to people who can’t take care of their children. If you can’t afford to live here, then you should do something about it. Nothing is free these days. I don’t think it’s a short term rental issue. So what happens to the locals who are earning from STR?
Yeah I didn’t know working in a sandwich shop was supposed to afford you a house. That’s a job for kids. Still living with your parents and living at home and going to school not people supporting a family. LOL
Locals should take advantage of high investment interest in the area instead of crying. This video looks like a setup to me to incorporate JT and tax all airbnbs.
Many locals have been pushed out of their long-term rentals due to GREEDY investors!! Maybe you should actually know what you’re talking about before making your asinine comment!
@@marksimmons3093 this is how market works. If you can't afford to live in a high desirable area you are moving out. Same happening in LA right now. A lot of people can't afford to live there and moving to suburbs like Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, etc. I don't see them recording RU-vid videos and complaining that they got pushed out. If there was a long term contract that got terminated then based on contract details any particular case can be taken to court. I still don't see any issues here.
Gonna call BS on this comment. First, CA minimum wage is $15/hour,. So this ain't a small biz owner making this comment. And if $15/hour isn't enough? Pay them more, increase your prices, or you make less, or both. Simple as that. As STR operators, we pay our crew ~$50/hour on average depending on the condition of the property when they turn it. They make ~$3K a month working 3-5 days a week, 4 hours a day. They can work nights and make even more money or chill and hang out with their families/friends. The Hi-Desert gets better and nicer every day because of STRs. 1/2 the properties were uninhabited and/or served as buy and hold assets for investors for decades. Long term tenants weren't going to reside in them anyway. I'm not a political person. But this whole argument is leftist and typical CA nonsense. Wanna get entrepreneurs out of CA? Keep this kind of drivel on the airwaves.
@@socalstr I don’t think my sarcasm came through enough on this one I’m all for STR and you are right this ain’t no small business owner in California but this is a Californian and unfortunately we all know not every small business in California is paying $15 an hourly
THE PEOPLE IN THIS VIDEO RUN FOR OFFICE ALL OF YOU! Take the power back. You have it! Get into it! I’m will to share talent to back you guys! The empty hotels and buildings up there what would it take to get those up and running ownership to the people who live and work there NO RENTALS share the pie! You work you own! Hugs a instant results for y’all. Lmk what I can do to help! Take the office positions from the greedy!
Yes, it's biased. We're presenting the victims plight of the unregulated STRs. Our Joshua Tree economy is strongly based on tourism. We had the foresight to help make Joshua Tree National Park - a National Park in 1994. The digital world and AirBnB have found Joshua Tree and have greatly OVERDONE IT. Things now are greatly imbalanced for the locals and we're working somewhat correcting the problem.
Great video production, the we have more people than Jobs up here. What makes you think more government is going to solve your anonymous employee housing problem . Let's dump tax payer money in nonprofits hands and surrender our private property rights to the corrupt government in exchange for what exactly. How about people secure housing and employment then have babies. . What color is your hair going to be next ladies
