ST. LOUIS • A north St. Louis resident hopes to change perceptions about housing in her predominantly black and low-income area of the city by inviting guests to experience the area firsthand.
One of Natalie Vowell’s Airbnb listings near Natural Bridge and North Newstead avenues started getting attention on social media Wednesday not for its location but for its title:
The description of the “not-so-great” home is just as frank as the title, leaving some marveling and amused by the forthrightness.
“Perfect for the intrepid traveler who enjoys living on the edge. Provides a unique glimpse into life in a working-class, low-income neighborhood, a mismanaged Midwest city, and decades of urban decay. Abundance of vacant houses and abandoned buildings nearby for UrbanEx adventurers,” the listing reads.
People are also reading…
Vowell said she and her husband were trying to be humorous but accurate with the description.
“Don’t advertise you have a palace when you have a tent,” Vowell said of keeping within the standards of Airbnb, a popular home-sharing site.
While some people have been apprehensive about the neighborhood, she said, guests have included students, professionals and travelers attending area conferences.
Atlanta couple Peta-Gaye Green, originally of Jamaica, and her husband, originally of St. Louis, spent two weeks at the north St. Louis condo searching for a home to purchase that they could eventually sell or rent. Green said they were drawn to the area because of lower housing costs. First-timers at the listing, Green said she was surprised to find the neighborhood was quiet and felt safe.
Vowell and her husband started posting homes to Airbnb last year. Their no-frills accommodation costs $29 nightly before taxes. They have another home on Airbnb called in the Baden neighborhood marketed to “the budget-conscious traveling band or introverted artist who seeks the gritty, yet low-risk, ‘squatter experience.’”
Despite taking a humorous tone describing their listings, Vowell said the intention was not to make fun of the community or the realities of poverty, but to provide an inexpensive stay in an area that is often ignored and misunderstood.
“The main goal with our North-of-Delmar Airbnb is to show out-of-towners that the north side isn’t necessarily ‘the dangerous part of town.’ It doesn’t have to be,” she said.
Vowell, though not a native of the area, has lived and worked in north St. Louis since 2011. She is the , an organization working to prevent homelessness by helping low-income families purchase and keep homes.
“It’s a passion for people, for social justice, and for changing housing policies in St. Louis,” she said of her efforts.
In 2014, she attempted to unseat then-state Rep. Penny Hubbard.
Refugees in need of a home can stay at Vowell’s north St. Louis location for free. That offer is part of a campaign Airbnb started after President Donald Trump’s immigration executive order seeking to bar people from seven majority Muslim countries from entering the United States.
