Tourism Converts Urban Housing to Hotels

In some popular cities a large share of downtown 'residential' units are being repurposed as hotel rooms or short‑term rentals, concentrating tourist accommodation in central neighborhoods and pushing working residents to the periphery. That conversion raises rents, lengthens commutes, and changes who can access central schools, supermarkets and jobs. — If widespread, this dynamic reframes housing policy from a supply/affordability problem to one about the commercial conversion of housing stock and the governance of tourism and short‑term rentals.