Whose House Party Is It, Any way?

AuthorSoupcoff, Marni
PositionFINAL WORD

The parents are away and the kids hold a house party that ends up raging out of control. This conceit was a teen-movie staple in the 1980s and the result was usually a ruined rug and an epiphany about what true maturity looks like. (Hint: it doesn't involve beer.)

In real life today, we read about house parties going wrong with far more serious consequences. Like multiple homicides.

In February, for example, three young men were fatally shot at a party in a Toronto condo that had been rented out through Airbnb. The crime prompted the sharing-economy darling to institute new rules on renters. (Murders and unauthorized parties had already been prohibited.)

"For us," Airbnb senior vice president Chris Lehane said at a press conference following the Toronto incident, "it's incredibly important that we take responsibility."

You might wonder why Airbnb would be considered responsible for someone else violating the criminal code on yet another person's property. For many decades now, multitudes of violent crimes have been committed in public housing projects across North America and the cities coordinating those living arrangements haven't exactly stepped up to accept blame. But hey, if a private company wants to voluntarily own up to having a role in some problem, then it should be free to do so and adjust its practices accordingly.

Unfortunately, government and progressives are loath to admit that self-regulation can work. Airbnb has responded to the Toronto shooting by limiting the ability of users younger than 25 to book whole homes in their community when the owner isn't present. Predictably, politicians and critics argue this change is not enough. And too much.

Toronto city council member Joe Cressy groused, "If [Airbnb] were serious, they would immediately delist the 7,000 properties on their website that don't comply with the city's regulations." By "regulations," he meant a bylaw of questionable legality that is not currently in force.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for a group called Fairbnb Canada complained that Airbnb's changes "amount to little when it comes to addressing community and neighbors' concerns." He went on to say that the new restrictions are potentially discriminatory toward young people, a violation that could presumably be in violation of human rights regulations. Gotcha!

It's not that we should care whether Airbnb gets props for policing itself. The firm can handle its own PR. What's frustrating is the widespread failure to...

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