Airbnbs have been a subject of debate since last year, provoking a myriad of responses.
Regulation of home sharing services such as Airbnb has been a contested issue in the city of Athens, but the conversation was brought to Ohio University's campus Tuesday.
Generation Opportunity, an organization focused on freedom and issues pertaining to people aged 18 to 34, sought to further the conversation by holding a “My House, My Rules” panel in Baker Center.
Home sharing is a concept used by Airbnb and other sites where homeowners can rent out rooms or the entirety of their house to guests for a certain period of time. Athens City Council has proposed legislation to limit use of the service in the city in the past, according to a previous Post report.
At the event, in which about 20 people attended, critics of restrictions on Airbnbs expressed concerns about private property rights.
Richard Vedder, a distinguished professor of economics at OU who spoke on the panel, said Americans value private property rights so much that they are "enshrined" in the Seventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
“This country is the wealthiest large country in the world precisely because we respect the private ownership of property,” Vedder said.
Abe Alassaf, an Athens resident and Midwest regional field coordinator for the Leadership Institute, also spoke on the panel. Alassaf has previously spoken out about the issue at city council meetings.
Alassaf and his wife rented out a room in their home through Airbnb until Athens City Council began regulating the service last year. The council had concerns over safety regulations and how to define bed-and-breakfasts in the city, according to a previous Post report.
“We were using the money to pay for our mortgage,“ Alassaf said.
Alassaf said the majority of the renters who stayed with him had come to visit their kids and could not get a room elsewhere.
“I offered a pretty cheap alternative and also just some friendly advice,” Alassaf said.
After speaking at a council meeting in November, Alassaf said he received a cease-and-desist letter from the city of Athens that said he could face a $500-per-day fine and a possible misdemeanor charge if he continued renting out a room through Airbnb, according to previous a Post report.
“It’s a wonderful alternative and a wonderful new market that has been opened up through this service,” panelist Jack Davies, Honors Tutorial College senator in OU Student Senate and a Post columnist, said.
Davies said the restrictions being posed by city council seem arbitrary and uncalled for.
“The problem I see here is there’s been no complaint to the council," Davies said. "Athens has not been overrun by legions of couch surfers."
Panel member Joe Savarise, the Executive Director of the Ohio Hotel and Lodging Association and an OU alum, said guest health and safety is the No. 1 concern in the industry on any property regardless of size, but one-room services shouldn’t be regulated the same way 800-room hotels are.
“Choice is good for the travel economy in Ohio,” Savarise said.
Alassaf said he first spoke out at city council because had he not, the topic could have just been “wiped under the rug.”
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Athens City Councilman Pat McGee, I-At Large, attended the event as a guest and said council is open to input from the community and encouraged people to attend the body's meetings. McGee also added that the discussion over bed-and-breakfasts in Athens was not about tax revenue.
“We haven’t made up our minds about anything,” McGee said.
Generation Opportunity is funded by groups associated with billionaires Charles and David Koch and received $5.04 million from a Koch-funded group in 2014, according to The Center for Responsive Politics.
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