Either way, just wildly saying that without any substantial evidence is pretty weak.
That would be the most misguided blame possible. Landlords don't raise prices because they are bad (and they don't lower prices because they are nice guys), the immense majority of them just follow the market and set the price to what people are willing to pay.
Seems like we have a problem with rent control there. Many landlords won't rent in SF because of rent control. They want tenants who leave regularly to take advantage of the rising prices. Not sure whether it's cause or effect, but I just think there's clearly more influential factors than Airbnb here.
"One notable finding is that Airbnb hosts renting out their homes are generating income that is crucial to them staying in the place they live. About 60% of the hosts in the survey had an income less than San Francisco’s median income. About 14% had an annual household income below 14% and another 27% were between $40,000 and $70,000. So for these hosts the extra income is very substantial."
and if there's any doubt remaining, let's ask the head of public policy at AirBnB for her opinion:
"'Hosts really use Airbnb to make ends meet,' says Molly Turner, head of public policy at Airbnb. 'One of the findings that most surprised us is how important Airbnb is to hosts. It’s really helping them through tough times.'"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/11/09/study-airb...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2012/12/12/qe4-is-...
QE4 is here. Only a few months after announcing what had
been dubbed QE3, an open-ended $40 billion a month program
to buy up mortgage backed securities (MBS), the FOMC
decided to extend its asset purchases in 2013 as Operation
Twist expires. Combined with QE3, the Fed will be taking
$85 billion in bonds, both Treasuries and MBS
In the short term, this seems like (and may indeed be) a positive trend - people are able to squeeze into better quality apartments than they otherwise could have. But in the medium term, as we now see in SF, market prices simply rise to account for this "new normal" behavior. Unintended consequences follow. First, someone who is not willing to open their apartment to part-time airbnb'rs is now at a disadvantage. Second, at least part, and perhaps most of, the extra airbnb income is now passed on to the landlords in the form of higher rental prices.
Remember it doesn't matter how much money you have, it only matters how much money you have relative to other people who want the same things you do.