Imagine you’re a middle-to-low-income family from the Midwest that has saved their entire lives to afford a trip to the dazzling bright lights of the Big Apple, only to discover that such a dream is now too far out of accommodations reach. Or you’re a struggling Brooklyn homeowner managing to keep up with the mortgage thanks to the occasional reprieve of Airbnb guests, to have such a lifeline income suddenly wiped. Or maybe you are a Queens-based retiree who rents out short-term rooms to stay afloat, only to be stripped of the chance to acquire those emergency funds.

Or, in my case, you’re a veteran New Yorker who parted ways with Manhattan amid the rampant mismanagement of the global pandemic three years ago – now purporting to return but realizing you can barely afford the minimum $600 a night for a shoebox-room hotel.

Sadly, such scenarios became a searing reality this past week after Local Law 18 came into effect, ultimately making New York’s almost 40,000 Airbnb listings illegal and subject to a cumbersome registration procedure and rigorous rules that do not work for hosts or guests. The new legislation dictates that short-term rentals, thirty days or under, are only allowed if the host resides in the same apartment or unit as the guests, pays fees to the government, and provides guests with free and unlimited access to every room. In addition, no more than two guests are permitted – hardly fair for families, reuniting friends or for those on multigenerational travel.

Mind you, such Big Brother nonsense is in full force even when you own your own place. Essentially, the over-domineering leftists in charge of New York are using your private property, perhaps a place you worked incredibly hard to afford, as their private enterprise with carte blanche in telling you what you can and cannot do inside your personal home. That is the sort of behavior we see in countries that operate under dictatorships. As a result of Local Law 18, New Yorkers can no longer control their own property and are now subject to severe financial and personal risks.

The ramifications will be massive.

A good friend of mine, Amina – who works in the gig economy – no longer knows how she will survive in the empty periods when work is down. Another friend, Mike, who oversaw dozens of overnight Airbnb apartments across the City, just had his livelihood obliterated. The top dogs of the City Council might try to tell you that this is all about going after the greedy bigwigs – but the honchos who own the giant commercial buildings and complexes will be just fine. It’s the small fish, those who rent or own standard New York apartments, who will suffer from the blow to their much-needed income.

Moreover, countless restaurants, businesses, taxi and rideshare drivers and others will undoubtedly feel the impact of an expected decimation of tourism. These short-term rentals made trips to New York possible for families and foreigners from far and wide and enabled ordinary people to visit for brief stints to look for work, take meetings or tend to a loved one in need. After all, few people on the planet can afford thousands upon thousands for a half-decent hotel for just a few days. The law swoops in at a time when tourism is – or at least was – creeping back up, not quite at pre-pandemic levels, but definitely on the ascension. Tourism is critical to the City’s economy. Yet, the Liberal elite prefer to show who is boss and send the message that visitors are no longer welcome rather than mind their own business and allow a free market to operate and prosper.

Ultimately, Local Law 18 is Christmas-come-early to the conglomerate hotel lobbying outfits and hotel unions, who have been bustling for years to restrict accommodation options and erase healthy competition that lowers costs – so hotels can continue raising their prices. Unfortunately, many of New York’s leftist council members are afraid to vote against these loud and powerful unions, pushing the misleading narrative that this is all about targeting wealthy landlords and lowering the cost of living.

And it seems our elected officials have failed to do much homework on the matter, or they don’t care. According to an analysis by The Economist, cracking down on Airbnb and other short-term rental opportunities hasn’t halted rent spikes in cities such as Boston, Paris and San Francisco, who have put in place similarly foolish policies in recent times.

Now, more than 160 hotels have been fully rented to migrants adding onto the costs to taxpayers and hurting New Yorkers and tourists. The shortage of remaining rooms has led to increased demand and thus higher costs, rendering hotels unaffordable for the rest of us. And adding insult to injury, the other chances we had to find a place at a fair price have been squandered by red tape. It doesn’t make sense because it shouldn’t make sense – it’s dizzying Democratic protocol at its most blatant. At a time when New York City – a place I treasure deeply for its unprecedented vitality and opportunity, a place unmatched by any other major metropolis on the planet – should be luring people back and encouraging diversity, backward liberal policies are merely pushing us all away, killing creativity and entrepreneurship, and closing the boroughs off to people from all walks of life.

Adam Weiss is the CEO of AMW PR, a New York based political strategy and communications firm. His firm has worked with Jim Brown, Judge Jeanine Pirro, Congressman Lee Zeldin, Eboni Williams, Corey Lewandowski, David Bossie, Andrew Giuliani, Governor Haley Barbour, Steve Hilton. Anthony Scaramucci, and more.