Background
This map shows Airbnb short-term rental room type in Nashville, Tennessee. I chose to create this map because I am working with Partnership for Working Families on a project about the negative outcomes of affordable housing state preemption on women of color. I was searching Nashville open data for some interesting datasets related to housing and found one on short-term rentals. The dataset was a bit sparse – I was hoping to find one on evictions. However, short-term rentals have been cited as a contributor to displacement in Nashville. The rising cost of housing in Nashville is especially concerning due to the high cost of living as well as the state preempting localities to adopt inclusionary housing, rent control, and ability to set their own minimum wage. In Tennesse, all minimum wage workers earn the absurdly low federal minimum wage of $7.25!

The Audience
My audience is planners, policymakers, and residents who may be concerned about the presence or proliferation of short-term rentals within their neighborhoods. Planners and policymakers may find the nature of short-term rentals in Nashville useful for crafting policies to balance short-term rentals while expanding affordable housing options for local residents. Due to restrictions on affordable housing production, affordable housing preservation is especially pertinent. Residents may also find this map useful if they’re noticing a surge of short-term rentals within their neighborhood and are concerned about their effect on housing affordability.

The Story
A large majority of short-term rentals in Nashville are rentals where the entire housing unit is rented out. This may suggest that Airbnbs are investment opportunities rather than supplementary revenue for a resident that may be renting out an extra guest room. There is no discernable spatial pattern or concentration of these rentals – perhaps bringing in an additional layer may reveal interesting patterns. There is, however, a cluster of units in downtown Nashville where the entire housing unit is rented out, with almost no shared or private room rentals. Although I ran out of time for this particular assignment, it would be interesting to compare the address of the Airbnb applicant to the address of the Airbnb unit to get a clearer picture of whether or not these short-term rentals are nonowner-occupied investment properties.

Why it Matters
At the start of 2018, Nashville’s Metro Council voted to phase out short-term rentals that were not owner-occupied in neighborhoods zoned for low-density residential, affecting primarily single-family and duplex units. Owner-occupied short term rentals and non-owner occupied short term rentals in multifamily buildings were exempted. Residents have alleged that many short-term rentals were put on the market by investors hoping to capitalize on Nashville’s booming tourism industry. After its passage, Nashville’s state legislature passed a bill overturning Nashville’s non-owner occupied short term rentals policy. Airbnb was a sponsor of the bill.

Process
The process of creating this map was simple and straightforward. First, I cleaned a CSV dataset of latitude and longitude points of Airbnb rentals. Then, I changed the point colors based on a categorical variable of room type and decreased the point size for legibility.