Unintended consequences

From the NY Times:

When Albany passed a law last summer preventing landlords of rental buildings from using their apartments as hotel rooms, neighborhood activists on the Upper West Side, where many of the conversions had taken place, were ebullient.

No longer would tenants in these buildings have to contend with European backpackers and other transients traipsing through their halls. No longer would landlords force out long-term residents to make way for more lucrative hotel guests.

But now some backers of the law, which makes it illegal to rent out most residential rooms and apartments for less than 30 days, are wondering if they have opened a Pandora’s box. To the dismay of many on the Upper West Side, at least one building that was stopped from operating as a hotel is now being turned into a homeless shelter for 200 men.

This was not the outcome the law’s supporters hoped for or, they say, expected. They also fear that more such buildings will follow suit, in a neighborhood that many residents contend is already saturated with homeless shelters and homes for the mentally ill and recovering addicts.