Rafael: Tonight, Airbnb has been reliable source of income for people to rent out their homes, but a new crackdown on short-term rentals may put many out of business.

An inspirational story takes us from corporate Americaheaded exg people the tools to get out and stay out of jail.

"MetroFocus" starts now.

>> This is "MetroFocus," with Rafael Pi Roman, Jack Ford, and Jenna Flanagan.

MetroFocus is made possible by The Peter G. Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney Fund.

Filomen M. D'Agostino Foundation.

Barbara Hope Zuckerberg.

And by Jody and John Arnhold.

Estate of Roland Karlen.

The JPB Foundation.

Rafael: Since its inception, Airbnb has become an increasingly popular option for tourists visiting New York City.

In 2020 two along, short-term rental listings across the city generated $85 million in revenue.

While visitors have enjoyed the lower prices in larger spaces at short-term rentals, some residents have brought issues like noise, trash, skyrocketing rents in response, the city has passed a new law that severely limits the number of short-term rentals by requiring rental host to register with the city and by restricting the number of guest s. Will new restrictions reverse rising rental prices?

Do they constitute a de facto ban on business, as Airbnb claims?

Joining us now are Amanda Hoover the reporter covering this issue with wired, and Margenett, who in the past has rented out her home on Airbnb.

Amanda, let's start with you.

Reckitt Denver restaurant -- break it down for us please.

Amanda: This is a registration law.

Short-term rental hosts who want to rent out places for less than 30 days now have to register with the city, but they will only be approved if they are going to be present in the home at the time of the stay and let it out to two people.

Effectively, this is not letting people do Airbnb's.

Many people come with normal family.

They have been effectively booted from the Airbnb platform.

Rafael: Margenett, representatives of Airbnb has said this a bounce to a defect -- this amounts to a de facto ban on Airbnb in New York City?

Do you agree?

Margenett: Effectively, yes.

For several years, we have been able to rely on a secondary stream of income using a short-term rental.

The majority of our business is from families who are traveling, often abroad, who want more space and amenities than a lot a lot of hotels can provide.

Given that there are only two people who can stay there, I agree it is a de facto ban.

Rafael: How is this affecting you?

What kind of hit are you taking Margenett: It varies from family to family.

For us, we bought our two-family home with the intention of creating a secondary income stream for ourselves.

New York City is one of the most expensive in the world.

It takes a lot, sometimes a lifetime, to buy your home.

When we bought this home, we bought it with the intention of being able to have the flexibility to use the second unit as we saw fit.

That included short-term rentals.

But it also includes other things.

When I consult, and space for my office.

When my daughter has a sleep overs, it is her friends.

It is a financial and quality of life hit.

Rafael: Amanda, among the reasons city lawmakers have given for deciding to go after short-term tolls -- rentals where noise work -- rentals were causing noise, trash, and danger , how did the determine that?

Complained to their offices?

To 311?

Amanda: This is a common theme when it comes to short-term rentals.

There have been shootings at short-term rentals, complaints about noise, parties.

These are major places for bachelor and bachelorette parties.

There are some that are quasi-hotels with a personal touch from a hose.

Some of these spaces have frustrated neighbors.

It is not just New York City.

This is an issue across the board.

Rafael: Margenett, did you ever get any complaints about noise for trash or danger from your gas?

-- guests.

Marjenay: Of Salina.

I do not agree that some of those scenarios have happened, but what I would offer is that the ecosystem of short-term rentals is complex.

Some players are professional landlords, some corporations, some are set it and forget it.

That is not the scenario for homeowners like me who generally live in the building they are renting their unit in.

While some of those scenarios may be happening in other places, the regulations throw out the baby with the bathwater.

We are trying to get an exemption for owner occupied 12-family homes.

We are generally there, not disrupting apartment buildings, compromising security for other people.

We are just trying to make ends meet or have the freedom to use the unit as we see fit as an owner.

Rafael: Amanda, the larger claim is that short-term rentals are driving or are part of the reasons why rents are rising so high in New York City.

Alisha Glenn, who was deputy mayor for housing under de Blasio, has said she never saw any data showing that short-term rentals were significantly affecting short-term housing prices.

Is there any hard evidence showing that short-term rentals have been driving this increase in rents?

Amanda: It is more a piece of this bigger puzzle.

We have seen the number of short-term rentals on Airbnb since enforcement of in early September drop from 22,000 to 3000.

In the scheme of an 8 million person city, 19,000 departments might not be -- make a victim.

These rentals have moved further out of Manhattan and Midtown added more into residential neighborhood.

There could be more impact in those areas, but it is still, I do not think this can overnight open up more residences for people.

Rafael: There are those who argue, and I remember hearing this a lot, that the main motivation for the law is not really about noise or trash or danger or rising prices but rather about the large cloud the hotel industry and unions have.

Date want to restrict competition.

Is there anything to that?

Amanda: That is certainly an argument I have heard a lot.

What we see with this is New York is taking a strict stance in terms of regulations on short-term rentals but it is not alone.

So many other cities have limited the amount of nights that people can last full apartments on short-term rental platforms.

That is certainly an argument.

Experts have said this could cause hotel prices to rise and demand to increase.

The validity to that, I am not sure.

It is regulation for short-term rentals -- Rafael: What do you think, Margenett, do you suspect that maybe the hotel industry has something to do with this?

Marjenay: This is a complex issue.

A lot of issue, the law has used an ax to solve a problem when they should've used a scalpel.

There are people who have exploited the law, companies, people who have hundreds of listings.

There is a need for that to be examined, perhaps regulated, but for 1-2 family homeowners, we are not contributing to the problems of the law purports to want to solve.

What we are asking for is a look at the law that looks at the different constituencies and abides regulations appropriate for the contribution to the problem.

Right now, there is an opportunity for hotels to capitalize on it.

Where are those people going to go?

There has to be a bigger picture looking at the impact of tourism overall.

I do not think everybody's going to go to a hotel.

Rafael: I was 10 the Director that for the last nine years, friends who've come to New York have all stated Airbnb's, not hotels.

To that point, Amanda, you are going against the former deputy mayor of housing, who said that Airbnb's have opened up travel to hundreds of thousands of people who never would've had the opportunity to come to New York.

Is the new log going to cause a big hit on the tourist industry?

$85 million last year alone from the start term -- short-term Amanda: Rentals.

Amanda:Amanda: It will be what happens after December.

Right now, Airbnb did not cancel existing reservations through December 1.

The holidays are coming up.

Big tourism time in New York City.

We do not know how people will be a place where we might see a bigger shaft.

Right now, there are still people who have booked trips and can come and stay in their Airbnb even if it is not fully compliant with the new law.

Enforcement, the city is ramping it out, but a bit slow right now, it seems.

We will see how this plays out.

There is already people with short-term rentals on Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, other places that are not booking platforms.

It is easier to find the radar.

Rafael: Marjenay, Amanda has written that at one point Berlin did restrictions similar to ours that rescinded it in 2018.

Is he reasonable changes to the lodge and not happen, are you hoping that maybe these laws will be rescinded?

Marjenay: Again, the opportunity is for nuance.

People could be excluding the short-term market.

That needs to be looked at.

The city has the ability to consider a different set of circumstances or exceptions for 1-2 family homeowners.

We are part of an organization where we are trying to get the city to get back to the table and have conversations with us.

Rafael: We will have to end it there.

Thank you.

Interesting conversation.

♪ Rafael: October often, former criminal offenders wind up back behind bars, in part because they are not given proper resources.

Goldsmith has been working to change that with his organization called get out, stay out, a nonprofit that helps young men incarcerated on Rikers Island reenter society by providing them with employment opportunities, skills training.

He spent most of his career as a successful executive in because medics industry before committing to a career of service.

He wrote about this transition in his book titled from Madison Avenue to Rikers Island, in which he encourages others that it is never too late to take up a life of service.

Joining us now as part of our chasing the dream initiative is author and founder of getting out, staying out, Mark Goldsmith.

Thank you for joining us.

Mark: I would like to record exactly what you said.

Rafael: You will be able to watch that and have it yourself.

The book is fascinating.

For some context, let's start with the Madison Avenue part of your career.

Mark: I was in the cosmetics business for over 35 years.

I started with Cody, just bought by Pfizer.

Then I went to Revlon.

You remember the men's,?

Rafael: Green bottle?

Mark: Then I ran the Stan Laure nt -- yves saint laurent's fragrance business.

35 year career.

Rafael: The book talks about from Madison Avenue to Rikers Island.

Explain how and why you got to Rikers Island and the impact it had on you.

Mark: I can thank my wife, Dr. Arlene Goldsmith, PhD social worker, who founded an organization.

She suggested to me that I do something for the day.

I said, what is that?

She said you go into the New York City school system and talk to him people about their future.

I said that is great.

I asked for the toughest school in New York.

I said, do not send me to a fancy school like my kids went.

They did.

They sent me to Rikers Island.

I cannot believe it.

I walked into Rikers Island, was introduced to EGD program, run Gloria Ortiz.

She had started the Horizon Academy on Rikers Island.

There were 25 young men.

I said what will I talk to them about?

We talk sports a wild.

Then I asked what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives.

They did not have a clue.

I asked them, do any of you guys know how to sell?

In business, that is called being a sales man.

You get paid a commission and you do not go to jail for it.

They said, that is cool.

I think him who keeps the money?

They said this guy over here.

I said he can be the finance guy.

I said, who spreads the word where you get drugs?

That is the advertising guide.

What I basically did was place them all in the corporate environment and talk to them about what it might be like.

And we have never seen them listen to a weight two hours.

-- a white guy for two hours.

I got them to talk.

They were articulate, intelligent.

I had the best time and I went back to work.

Rafael: Fascinating conversation.

Were you able to get them to relate to skills that had to do with, unfortunately, their conduct and showed how those skills could work in the world world?

You got their attention.

How do you start officially this program?

Mark: The last thing I had an idea was that I would start the nonprofit.

We back and started to go once a week.

Turns out one of the guys gets out.

I said, what will you do now?

I set myself up at Starbucks, 39th and Madison.

As on this young man.

-- I saw this young man.

We started to talk about what he might like to do.

Then another guy got out.

For the most part, everybody was due Rikers Island and gets convicted goes up top, to an upstate prison.

When those guys would go up top, I ended up being there corresponded parent I wrote to them, kept them interested.

There is a young man up there I have known for 20 years.

We still talk.

That is what happened.

Then my wife said, why don't you start a nonprofit?

I opened it up.

I had to get in office.

I cannot get an office, because people do not want to rent to a guy who is having formerly incarcerated people in their building.

The answer to that is simple.

Storefront on 116th Street.

I started walking from virtually dry and found an office where they could walk in from the street, did not have to go through the lobby.

The program has since expanded into several offices in Harlem.

Jack: We have a lot I want to get in here.

Fascinating beginning to this.

Let's jump ahead.

What sort of services and skills training is the organization able to provide?

Mark: You mentioned it.

It is called the three e's -- education, employment, and emotional well-being.

My wife said only higher social workers with a Masters degree.

If they cannot deal with the emotions and thoughts of these young men, they will fail.

From day one, we only hired social workers with a Masters degree, who did a form of therapy and a psychiatrist consultant.

Getting back to employment and education, the department of education, because I had done such a good job on Rikers, agreed to have a new GD facility in my offices.

We have a GED facility where young men can get their GED and hopefully go to college on site, run by the New York City, it is called District 79, the alternative school district of New York City.

When it came to employment, I set up the job readiness curriculum.

It was two weeks of intensive looking into every aspect of employment, starting with the fact that if they came early, left leg, and stayed off their cell phones, they could probably get promoted.

Then I got involved with various corporations who were willing to hire these young men, but I think the fact that they could succeed in the corporate world just by working hard, and getting pension -- Jack: I was fascinated by your attention to detail, things such as look the person in the eye when you're talking with them and stay off of your cell phone.

You went through mock job interviews with them.

I want to ask one thing and then they will come back to building the program.

We tend to look at numbers, statistics as an indicator of success.

I found yours to be remarkable.

One says that less then 15% of the people who go through your program go back to jail.

That compares to something in the range of 65% of others who do not do that.

Were you surprised by that number?

Mark: Having ever experienced either one of them, -- I will tell you a quick story that I am from Johnstown, Pennsylvania originally.

Before that, I got out of the Navy, went home, had a party, had too much to drink, ended up hitting a cop car and ended up in jail.

My father had to be a me out.

I am a man of color in New York City.

-- if I had been a man of color in New York City, I would've ended up on Rikers Island.

Jack: The majority of people are there have not yet been convicted of crimes that are waiting on convictions.

One question is to illustrate again the breadth and success of this program.

We talked about the numbers, but tell us what is the difference in cost for a year of somebody on Rikers Island as opposed to what you do?

Mark: Hundreds of thousands of dollars to house one individual at Rikers Island.

I should add that we are now taking young women into the program.

We have gotten calls in East Harlem of young women who are there.

The idea is it is hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Our costs, $15,000 per guy, per year.

Jack: If you are you numbers person, all you do is look at those numbers to get a sense of how impactful this program is.

Last thing -- if somebody says would be worthwhile program, how can I support it?

What is the answer?

Mark: Contact us.

The website is gosonyc.org.

Gosonyc.org.

Volunteering, you can volunteer, be a coach.

The single most important thing about volunteering is you get more out of it than the people you are helping.

Jack: So many people would say that.

There are enough a lot of young people out there who are a great deal from you.

Mark: That is why I wrote the book.

So many people are retiring.

What are they going to do?

Jack: Mark, I have got to run but solving book, congratulations on the success and impact you are having on these young people's lives.

Good luck to you in the future.

Thank you for spending time with us.

Mark: Thank you for your time.

Appreciate it.

Jack: Thanks for turning into MetroFocus.

You can take our program with you wherever you go with MetroFocus the podcast.

Or simply ask your smart speaker to play Mark Pro focus -- MetroFocus: The podcast.

Also available at metrofocus.org and on the NPR one app.

>> MetroFocus is made possible by Filomen M. D'Agostino Foundation.

The Peter G. Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney Fund.

Bernard and Denise Schwartz.

Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn foundation.

The Ambrose Monell Foundation.

Estate of Roland Karlen.

The JPB Foundation.