I am writing to encourage you to consider our community's home sharing policies and the recent laws that have tried to restrict the ability of local residents to rent out rooms on a short-term basis. There are many services such as Airbnb, Home away, and VRBO. These services have allowed families and individuals to receive an extra income and help them afford housing costs of their own. While helping out those that open their home to others home sharing also helps individuals, couples, families, and others have access to affordable places to stay for short or extended periods of time. The services have become something that not only benefit one party, but both parties involved in home sharing.
In past years, there have been laws in different states and regulations on how home sharing with these services can be done. Localities depend on taxes for overnight guests at hotels to help support tourist infrastructure and other local services, so there is concern about lost public revenue. Another concern is maintaining safety and health in the homes that are shared; how can guests be protected from thieves and predators who might take advantage of guests, and how can the public ensure that homes open for sharing are wholesome and safe? On the other hand, the services use reputation scores to screen out hosts or guests who have unsavory dispositions or menacing behaviors, and cities and states already collect revenue from shared homes through property taxes and income taxes (perhaps there could be regulation on how revenue earned through home sharing services is reported to the IRS). There are several articles about this, but two I recommend are the October 26th 2016 article in the New York Times “Airbnb Sues Over New Law Regulating New York Rentals” and the information page at 2nd Address Research updated (when I consulted it) on February 5, 2020: “Short-Term Rental Laws in Major U.S. Cities.” These two articles have valuable information in regard to laws and the regulations that some major cities must follow to use home sharing services.
Home sharing services are ideal and a great asset to our communities throughout the United States. Although risks come with home sharing, like renting, there are fees involved to ensure elimination of major risks that could arise. Home sharing helps people earn income by lending out their property to allow individuals to have a place to stay and resting area when visiting or staying in the local area of their property. Banning these services would hurt low income families and individuals as homes are typically people’s greatest asset. When using one of their greatest assets to produce a side income or an income at all, this helps lift low income families away from struggle and being on the brink of poverty.
Most cities that have regulations forbid renters in rent-controlled housing or in public housing or in public subsidized housing from participating in income-generating home sharing. I suppose the assumption is that the subsidies or rent-control are there to make housing affordable so people can live there, but should not be used to gain an advantage in generating income. This seems odd to me, since many businesses and industries also receive subsidies and government support to enhance their ability to earn profits, so why should poor persons in low-income housing be denied an opportunity to earn money? Other common regulations are limits on how many homes can be shared for short-term rents. Limits in several cities are just one or two homes, and usually the home or one of the homes must be a primary residence of the person who is offering it for short-term sharing. It is also common for regulations to demand that only a room or two be rented, but the primary resident must be in the apartment when their guests are there. There are also many cities that set limits on how many guests may pay for short-term stays. Some of these regulations make sense; we don’t want wealthy people to buy up all the housing units and run dozens of apartments and houses like a hotel, displacing local residences who find it difficult to locate affordable housing. Other regulations seem unreasonable. Why do some cities only allow two guests, but not three? Doesn’t such a regulation discriminate against families with children?
Although home sharing is wonderful for producing income and for the owners of the properties, there are also many benefits that come from home sharing for those that utilize the services. This allows individuals to not have to utilize the typical hotel arrangement, and typically the pricing is much more reasonable. Hotel arrangements are great for a quick stay, but a more reasonable and ideal home would make sense for someone that travels often and will be in the area for an extended period of time. A home, apartment, or town home typically has a kitchen allowing for home cooked meals, saving guests money from continually eating out. Continually eating out at fast food restaurants may save money, but it is not healthy, and eating at sit-down places typically aren't cheap and, can add up and take attention away from saving funds to put toward something more important and valuable. So, the home sharing services make travel and vacations more accessible to persons with modest incomes, who could not afford to stay in hotels and eat out in good restaurants every night while traveling. A city council considering regulations against home sharing might want to force visitors to eat in local restaurants to generate more tax revenue, but if people are cooking in a kitchen in their short-term shared home or apartment they will still need to purchase supplies in local grocery stores and markets, so either way, they stimulate the local economy.
Another example of how home sharing benefits individuals is for instance, someone that cannot quite yet afford to get an apartment, rent a home, or buy a home could use home sharing services while they work to get back on their feet. It is a home-like environment that is welcoming and has appliances and resources that are ideal for families, couples, or individuals. Like hotels that rent by the week, low-income persons who are saving for a deposit on an apartment or home may find very low-cost short-term “rents” by engaging in a home sharing plan, getting a room in someone’s home for several weeks or a few months, and avoiding the requirement of signing a six-month or 12-month lease, such as most rental properties require.
Home sharing is a great resource for individuals to earn extra income to help them thrive and survive and is a great resource to help people get back on their feet. Additionally, home sharing is a great resource for people that travel frequently and like a homey experience. It helps those that aren’t quite ready to rent and be restricted to an apartment, duplex, or home for however long the lease is written for, typically a year. All around, home sharing is the preferred way to go when traveling somewhere and has proven to be profitable and a great resource for all parties involved. Restricting people from doing what they wish with their property seems makes sense in some cases: we don’t want people manufacturing fireworks in their residential neighborhood, or hosting loud live music concerts every evening in their garage. But, house sharing services are not like these hazardous or polluting activities, and we should allow home sharing to happen. Allowing our city’s residents to share their homes brings valuable benefits to many in our community, and harms no one. Please, as you consider regulations on home sharing in our city, do not impose regulations that go too far in restricting the freedom of those who would share their homes, and certainly do not ban this practice.
Articles Referred To:
https://www.2ndaddress.com/research/short-term-rental-laws/
https://www.2ndaddress.com/research/short-term-rental-laws/
Another resource:
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