The problem with living like a local is simple math: When everyone does it, no locals are left. Tourists push out the very communities they claim to love. ... The cost of this fantasy is real housing. Short-term rentals strip homes from the market. A McGill University study found that in Canada's largest cities, landlords removed nearly 14,000 homes from the long-term market to serve tourists. In New York City, as many as 13,500 housing units vanished into the short-term rental void, driving up rents for actual residents by hundreds of dollars a year.