Economic development is a big goal for Evanston aldermen these days, and it turns out that vacation rentals might have a role to play in achieving that goal.
Aldermen have been trying for months to figure out how to respond to demands from residents of a block on Ashland Avenue that a neighbor there be barred from using her home as a vacation rental — so far without success.
In researching the issue we ran across a study conducted by the consulting group HR&A Advisors for the big vacation rental matching service Airbnb.
The study, conducted in Airbnb’s San Franciso home base, claims that over a period of 13 months ending 10 months ago vacation rentals generated through the service added $56 million to the San Francisco economy.
A press release promoting the study was thin on information about how that figure was determined, and we haven’t received a response yet to an email inquiry yesterday seeking more details about it.
San Francisco has about 11 times the population of Evanston, and many would say it’s a much more popular tourist destination. But just adjusting for population, the study could support a theory that Airbnb vacation rentals alone could account for about $5 million a year in additional economic activity here.
How much other players in the space account for was beyond the scope of the study.
To put that $5 million number in some perspective, the evanstArts study last month claimed that all non-profit arts groups in Evanston generate about $20 million in economic activity — something the arts advocates believe justifies more financial support from taxpayers.
Now $20 million is only about 1 percent of Evanston’s total household income, so the impact of vacation rentals on the local economy is not likely to be huge, even adding in the impact of all of Airbnb’s competitors.
But it’s something for aldermen to think about before deciding to outlaw vacation rentals.
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