Category: Airbnb

I’ve been waffling on how much of this home sharing fight that I should share. I started using Airbnb and VRBO to provide me an income while I figure out how to best grow my business. I wasn’t supposed to be in a fight about housing. It wasn’t supposed to spend more than a year where my priority was my home. I really wanted 2017 to be focused on eliminating health care disparities within the African American faith community. That’s right, my business, GospelFit,  is about creating better health in my community. It’s March of 2018 and this home sharing fight continues.

Truth be told, my real vision for focusing on health in our community is really about us all being ready for the fight in the world. We have a marathon to run and some of us can’t even walk a block…literally. I’ve had this thought for a long time. We need to get ready. We need to become more socially and politically active. This is not a November 2016 idea. There is injustice. Who’s going to fix it for us? What I do know is that it’s not going to happen without us. I am part of this we. Apparently, the home sharing struggle in NY is not going to get better without me.

There is injustice in healthcare too. Truth! These health disparities aren’t just about eating better and exercising more. More on that later. And if my true vision is about a larger fight, I think God showed me the cross that I need to pick up and fight now.

I needed to test and approve what seems to be the obvious path to make sure it’s not me simply picking something else that keeps me off track. Really, I am never at a loss for ideas and things to do. I have to make sure this should be on my priorities list.

Everywhere I turn, the message is ‘push’ forward.  This past Sunday was my church’s Women’s Day and I got double confirmation. I may have inadvertently set myself up since I was chair of Women’s Day.

Both of the two speakers had a message for me. During the service, Minister Stephanie Joy Grigg preached a great word. Basically, you need to ‘push’ while you wait on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord doesn’t mean to be idle. There is work to do. Let me tell you, I’ve been waiting and working. Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the beginning of my fight with the city. It was on that day that the city sent three men to my door for the first time and made this fight personal. It’s been a combination of waiting and working ever since.

After the Women’s Day service, the speakers and a few of us from the Women’s Ministry shared dinner. I got even more confirmation to continue the fight when Dr Deborah Wortham directly told me to do so. It wasn’t simply blind guidance. She instructed me to lead with the Word and I’m listening.

Wouldn’t you know it; I got another word of confirmation on our weekly Tuesday morning church prayer call. Pastor Daymond talked about how we should decide what to do. He said, “What does the devil want you to do? And what does God want you to do?” These answers are easy. The devil wants me to give up. These inspectors, the city and the state co-sign on that one and want me along with everyone else who is sharing to give up too.

As I said before, God gave me this house and has provided for me to keep it and pay my mortgage on time every month. Clearly, I have to stand against those stopping my income and trying to make it impossible for me and others stay in our homes and neighborhoods.

You’d think that would be enough to keep me on this path and to share my story with the world. Not exactly. Every once in awhile, I think I should keep a lower profile. (Since I post my adventure on FB on the regular, some of this is already out there.) Sometimes, I think telling my story might make the city, state and the hotel lobby a little more mad and aggressive towards me.

Then I remind myself that keeping quiet because of what they might do feels like giving into fear. We know God is not a god of fear. In fact, 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I do know quite a few people in a situation similar to mine who are afraid and act almost as if they are paralyzed victims . Since, I have the full armor of God, I can stand and win! Ephesians 6:11-18

From a more practical perspective, one of my new favorite podcasts reminds me with each listen that I need to share my opinion and my story. My new BFF in my head, Angela Rye, introduced me to Bakari Sellers’ podcast. At the end of each episode of ViewPoint with Bakari Sellers, he reminds me not to keep this to myself when he says, “Never be afraid to share your viewpoint.”

(For real, what had happened was my BFF in my head Angela Rye connected me to Bakari Sellers’ podcast through her podcast, On One with Angel Rye.)

To represent the other side, my mother thinks I need to focus on making money to replace what I’m not making because the city shut me down. Her concerns are really greater than money, but income is the greatest. Since I can testify that I know God is my provider. I’m not worried  about that part. Don’t get it twisted, money is a concern and I’m working on that part too.

If you had to guess, what are the odds of you getting more of my story? The odds of me staying in this fight for economic justice? You’re right, there is a 100% chance that it’s on.

It’s on.

Actions for the day:

Stay Woke.

Subscribe and listen to:

• ViewPoint with Bakari Sellers
• On the One with Angela Rye

I just left an Airbnb Meetup and I have a story to tell. If you’re not familiar with meetup.com, it is a platform where individuals form groups of people who are interested in the same thing. There are over 100,000 meeetup.com groups around the world. This Airbnb Meetup is just one of them and, for the record, is not officially connected to or sponsored by Airbnb.

I arrived late and had to navigate my way through the crowd to find a spot in the back of corner of the room. I’d guess there were more than 60 people in this standing room only crowd. It was a diverse bunch of post work professionals. I’d say the majority of the folks were majority folks. There was a relatively typical attorney making a standard talk in the front of the room using the AV equipment that we would expect. Since I arrived at the point where some people had enough of this session, I was able to find a seat after a few moments. I sat just in time to get a perfect view of the evening highlight. I felt like I was seated at the net line of a tennis match. I had to be a little like Willow Smith and “whip my hair back and forth.” Really, my hair was in a hat and no whipping happened. But, you get the point. The conversation was heated. An audience member sitting toward the back right was challenging the presenter up front and she didn’t care for his answers. Other folks in the audience challenged her. One person seated in back on the left was so annoyed that she said, “Shut up!” At that point, I clutched my pearls. Oh, the horrors! Apparently, we do this now…and so many other things we need to stop.

I don’t know what I missed that got this whole thing started. However, it was clear that this group of hosts feels under attack by the city and the state. The hostility in the room is a weird reflection or, maybe, it’s amplification of the hostility that we’re getting from the city and state. The feeling and the struggle are real. Since I have about a half dozen summons and violations still waiting for their day in court, I can relate. I know the point where the pain boils over to more and needs to be set free. Since I’ve been on this fight for a while, I’m a little calmer about it. Well – at least most of the time, I’m calm.

Real talk, I’m a little happy that these folks were a little unruly and agitated. They finally realize that they can’t stay under the radar. I’ve been a little salty that more people aren’t willing to get more involved. I understand it, but I’ve been salty anyway. They now realize that they have to stop sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone else to take care of this issue because this issue is literally at their front door. They’re fearful that the next knock at the door or ring of the buzzer could be them trying to get in without a warrant. They know the City is coming after them even if they own a one or two-family home, despite the fact that their legislators told them what they were doing is legal. They’re scared they will have to sell because of the fines and without extra income from somewhere they can’t afford to live here. With all of this outrage, they are more willing to show up, stand up and unite with others to fight for our rights. They know you gotta to fight for your right to…and it’s not to party. (I have a little protest march and Beastie Boys in my head at the same time.)

As I’ve said before, this is a serious matter. Don’t forget, we need to have joy in this journey. Pun intended. I am up for the challenge. I’ll be fighting and celebrating at the same time. As one of my friends says often, “this is not a dress rehearsal.” We are growing an engaged community fighting for our rights. Join us.

Actions for the day:

If you’re a host and want to join the NYC Airbnb Hosts Meetup, you can find them here.
If you’d like to join the fight, join the Home Sharing Association of America mailing list here.