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Comment by stephenr | Hacker News Reader

Imagine that: if you ignore all the government regulations that are put in place to protect people, you can provide a cheaper service.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you.

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In the US at least, the practice of owning and renting a home isn't something that Airbnb invented - it's something people have been doing for many many decades. And while it might have been a reasonable critique that Airbnb skirted regulations in its early days, the practice is almost always heavily regulated where it is allowed today.

I can't speak to the US but in Australia rentals are also heavily regulated.

Just because they didn't invent something doesn't mean they aren't also abusing the system.

Government regulations aren't there to protect all people, they're there to make house prices go up infinitely by artificially restricting supply. And also to protect white people from Black people (redlining).

counter examples: FAR 91, FAR 101, building codes for fire and electrical.

almost every one of these regulations exist because somebody/company screwed up. yes, there are abuses like regulatory capture, but generally somebody messed up.

need further convincing? look into the history of housing over the past 1000 years, London fires and Cholera epidemics from public wells come to mind.

What does any of that have to do with AirBnB? If a house isn't safe enough to be used for short-term stays, it's not safe enough for anyone to live in.

> Government regulations aren't there to protect all people,

I gave examples of regulations that protect people. Existing houses are safe enough to AirBnB or live in because of regulations.

There's also plenty of government regulations (at the local level, mainly involving zoning) that prevent building new housing, because existing homeowners want to keep property values high. How is that protecting peoples' safety?

Zoning is the least of your worries about keeping new housing from being built. There is an unwillingness to raze older buildings or industrial brownfields and turn them into housing. At least around here, there are many "undesirable" properties on bus lines, within reach of the city services, that would repurposed as housing sites.

There's an unwillingness because those aren't zoned for housing (or the kind of housing that developers want to build there).

protect some people (sometimes at the expense of others).

Eg the regulations limiting the amount of doctors has harmed millions.

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