Welcome to the Tech Policy Podcast. I'm Evan Swartzropper. On today's show, Chicago cracks down on Airbnb and other home sharing platforms. What's going on in Chicago? Is there a legal battle that will result from this law? Is there anyone doing anything about this? Well, joining me to

discuss this is someone who is doing something about this. Christina Sandifer is the executive

vice president of the Goldwater Institute. It's a group based in Arizona, but the Goldwater Institute

has been a leader nationwide in terms of regulating home sharing platforms in a smart way that doesn't result in lawsuits and big fights.

And this policy is something they've tried to get other states and cities to adopt.

Christina, thanks so much for joining the show.

Hey, thanks for having me, Evan.

So give us a quick recap of what went on in Chicago and what's the current state of play.

Sure. Well, unfortunately, Chicago has followed in the footsteps of many other cities nationwide

in severely regulating the practice of home sharing. Now, that sounds like sort of a new practice,

something that is associated with the cutting edge sharing economy. But actually,

it's a centuries old American tradition. It's simply people opening up their homes and

allowing overnight guests to stay there. Sometimes people do that for pay. Sometimes they do it

in exchange for meals or chores. But at the end of the day, it's just people allowing someone

to stay in their private home.

All that's happened today is that the internet

has enabled homeowners and travelers to connect

in ways that have never really happened before.

In essence, they've made the practice more efficient.

And of course, as we see, when a practice becomes more

efficient, then regulators seem to be in the mindset that they have to do something to crack down

on it. And that is exactly what happened in Chicago. Chicago just recently this past summer

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