It is a regrettable coincidence that we released an Anarchitecture Podcast episode lightheartedly mocking certain “fears” about short-term rentals just hours before a shooting at an Airbnb unit in Orinda, California took the lives of five people on October 31, 2019. Our hearts are heavy for the families of Tiyon Farley, Omar Taylor, Ramon Hill Jr., Javin County, Oshiana Tompkins, and others who were injured. 

However, some of the arguments we made in our episode can help to shed light on what was done wrong, by whom, and some possible approaches to reducing these kinds of risks in the future. In our Halloween episode #27 of Anarchitecture Podcast, titled “#ana027: 11 Spooky Fears About Short-Term Rentals – ASSUAGED!!!” I talked about my experience as an Airbnb host, and we addressed a list of concerns about short-term home rentals that have motivated bans and other legal restrictions on short-term rentals across the country. These “fears” ranged from effects on housing affordability to fire safety concerns to licensure requirements to noise and other nuisances. We concluded that there are generally building code and licensure requirements that place some reasonable limits on the number of occupants in a single-family home rental, and proposed a “home rental mediation” service to mediate nuisance complaints between hosts and neighbors.

Let’s start with some facts of the case as they have been reported:

Continue reading