WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.080 Welcome to The Debate. Today we are looking at 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:04.900 a shift that has, well, it's completely rewritten 00:00:04.900 --> 00:00:07.900 the script on how we travel, how we work, and 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:11.099 most contentiously, how we live. We're talking 00:00:11.099 --> 00:00:14.300 about short -term rentals. Or as a lot of locals 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:17.140 have started calling them, ghost hotels. That's 00:00:17.140 --> 00:00:19.539 a provocative start, but let's, uh... Let's strip 00:00:19.539 --> 00:00:21.760 back the labels for a second. We're talking about 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:24.320 furnished, self -contained apartments or houses 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:26.879 that are rented for, you know, brief periods, 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:29.679 days or weeks, mostly through platforms like 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:32.520 Airbnb or VRbo. This isn't just about a spare 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:34.920 bedroom anymore. This is an industry that took 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:38.539 the sort of stiff, expensive world of corporate 00:00:38.539 --> 00:00:42.640 housing and democratized it. It opened up the 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:44.939 world to private owners and gave travelers something 00:00:44.939 --> 00:00:48.820 the hotel industry simply couldn't. But that's 00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:51.439 the crux of the problem, isn't it? It gave travelers 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:54.820 a home by taking that exact home away from a 00:00:54.820 --> 00:00:57.719 resident. We aren't wrestling with a simple travel 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:01.679 innovation here. We are wrestling with a fundamental 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:04.700 clash between the right to maximize profit from 00:01:04.700 --> 00:01:07.780 a property and the right of a community to actually 00:01:07.780 --> 00:01:10.760 exist as a community. I think that framing is 00:01:10.760 --> 00:01:13.299 just... It's far too binary. You're painting 00:01:13.299 --> 00:01:16.400 this as a zero -sum game where every Airbnb is 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:18.680 a stolen home, and I just don't see it that way. 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:21.980 I mean, look at the utility here. Short -term 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:23.879 rentals fill a massive gap in the accommodation 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:26.599 market. If you are, say, a family of five trying 00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:29.099 to visit a city for a week, or you're a professional 00:01:29.099 --> 00:01:32.079 relocating for a month -long project, what are 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:34.519 your options? Two or three hotel rooms? That's, 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:37.099 I mean, that's financially ruinous. It's expensive, 00:01:37.340 --> 00:01:40.049 sure. It's not just expensive, it's completely 00:01:40.049 --> 00:01:43.329 impractical. You don't have a kitchen, you don't 00:01:43.329 --> 00:01:45.510 have a washer or dryer, you're living out of 00:01:45.510 --> 00:01:49.189 a suitcase in a 300 square foot box. Short -term 00:01:49.189 --> 00:01:51.750 rentals offer amenities that actually allow for 00:01:51.750 --> 00:01:54.390 living, not just sleeping. And they do it at 00:01:54.390 --> 00:01:57.170 a price point that is often, you know, 25 to 00:01:57.170 --> 00:01:59.890 50 percent cheaper than a hotel for those month 00:01:59.890 --> 00:02:03.469 -long stays. That efficiency matters. It unlocks 00:02:03.469 --> 00:02:05.549 travel and mobility for millions of people who 00:02:05.549 --> 00:02:08.189 otherwise couldn't afford it. Okay, but let's 00:02:08.189 --> 00:02:11.569 look at why it's 25 to 50 % cheaper. It's not 00:02:11.569 --> 00:02:14.289 magic. It's because the short -term rental model 00:02:14.289 --> 00:02:16.750 strips away all the overhead that makes a hotel 00:02:16.750 --> 00:02:20.229 a hotel. There's no front desk staff, no security, 00:02:20.610 --> 00:02:24.270 no commercial zoning taxes, and often no compliance 00:02:24.270 --> 00:02:26.590 with the strict safety codes that hotels have 00:02:26.590 --> 00:02:29.729 to follow. That efficiency you're praising is 00:02:29.729 --> 00:02:32.770 actually just regulatory arbitrage. You're comparing 00:02:32.770 --> 00:02:41.289 a regulated commercial industry It's cheaper 00:02:41.289 --> 00:02:44.889 because it utilizes existing assets more effectively. 00:02:45.069 --> 00:02:47.870 It connects supply and demand directly, cutting 00:02:47.870 --> 00:02:50.330 out the middleman. That is the definition of 00:02:50.330 --> 00:02:53.610 market efficiency. It's an incentive to displace. 00:02:53.830 --> 00:02:57.009 That is the reality we have to confront. When 00:02:57.009 --> 00:02:59.229 a landlord looks at their spreadsheet and realizes 00:02:59.229 --> 00:03:02.449 they can make, say, 30 % more profit renting 00:03:02.449 --> 00:03:05.120 to tourists on a short -term basis, than they 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:07.479 can renting to a local family on a yearly lease. 00:03:07.659 --> 00:03:10.560 What do you think happens? That is a massive 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.439 financial wedge. It turns housing from a social 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:16.800 good into a purely speculative asset. But landlords 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:19.159 have always sought to maximize returns. That 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:21.800 isn't new. The scale is new. And the aggression 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:24.919 is new. We are seeing cases where landlords actively 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:27.379 pressure and coerce long -term tenants out of 00:03:27.379 --> 00:03:30.080 their units, particularly vulnerable low -income 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:32.879 residents, just so they can flip the unit onto 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:35.259 the short -term market. They are emptying out 00:03:35.259 --> 00:03:37.759 entire neighborhoods to chase that yield premium. 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:40.740 That isn't filling a gap in the market. That 00:03:40.740 --> 00:03:42.639 is cannibalizing the long -term housing stock. 00:03:42.900 --> 00:03:46.020 I want to push back on this cannibalization narrative 00:03:46.020 --> 00:03:48.919 because it's, well, it's emotionally potent. 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:52.719 But I think it often lacks nuance. You're blaming 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:55.960 SDRs for a housing crisis that has roots in decades 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:59.180 of poor zoning and lack of construction. I mean, 00:03:59.219 --> 00:04:03.039 take the Australian rental crisis of 2022. Critics 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:05.360 immediately pointed fingers at short -term rentals 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:07.439 as the villain. But if you actually look at the 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:10.360 timeline, short -term rental listings diminished 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:13.539 during the COVID pandemic. The crisis persisted 00:04:13.539 --> 00:04:16.519 and even worsened when the STRs were empty or 00:04:16.519 --> 00:04:18.959 delisted. You're cherry -picking the pandemic 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:22.100 anonymously, though. Of course, listings dropped 00:04:22.100 --> 00:04:25.060 when global travel basically illegalized itself. 00:04:25.379 --> 00:04:28.120 But look at what happened in Tasmania specifically. 00:04:29.050 --> 00:04:31.470 We have clear data showing that a significant 00:04:31.470 --> 00:04:34.529 majority of properties listed as short -term 00:04:34.529 --> 00:04:37.410 rentals had previously been long -term leases. 00:04:37.649 --> 00:04:40.949 That is a direct transfer. You can't argue with 00:04:40.949 --> 00:04:43.310 the physics of it. If a house is occupied by 00:04:43.310 --> 00:04:46.069 a tourist for 200 days a year, it cannot house 00:04:46.069 --> 00:04:49.110 a family. In supply -constrained markets, every 00:04:49.110 --> 00:04:52.089 single STR is a subtractive event for the local 00:04:52.089 --> 00:04:54.370 workforce. But is it the primary driver of the 00:04:54.370 --> 00:04:56.860 shortage? Most economists point to interest rates, 00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:59.899 construction costs, and migration patterns. Blaming 00:04:59.899 --> 00:05:01.579 a person renting out their investment property 00:05:01.579 --> 00:05:04.000 is kind of a convenient scapegoat for failed 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.199 government housing policy. And again, you are 00:05:06.199 --> 00:05:08.920 ignoring the user. If we ban these rentals to 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:11.439 save the housing stock, where does the traveling 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:13.620 nurse stay? Where is the family renovating their 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:15.759 own home stay for a month? They stay in hotels 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:18.860 or extended stay motels or, you know, legally 00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:20.980 zoned bed and breakfasts. The industry existed 00:05:20.980 --> 00:05:24.180 before Airbnb. Not at this price point, and not 00:05:24.180 --> 00:05:26.560 with this kind of flexibility. You can't just 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:29.060 wave away the economic benefits for the traveler. 00:05:29.300 --> 00:05:32.379 For a relocation, having a soft landing in a 00:05:32.379 --> 00:05:34.680 furnished apartment with a kitchen is the difference 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:37.079 between a nightmare move and a manageable one. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:39.879 It democratizes that corporate housing experience 00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:42.000 that used to be reserved just for executives. 00:05:42.259 --> 00:05:45.180 Now a grad student can access it. But at what 00:05:45.180 --> 00:05:47.839 cost to the neighbor? You keep focusing on the 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:49.879 person staying in the unit, but I want to talk 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:52.220 about the person living next door. This brings 00:05:52.220 --> 00:05:54.720 us to the gray market of safety and regulation. 00:05:55.180 --> 00:05:57.920 When I check into a Marriott, I know the fire 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:00.519 sprinklers work. I know the hallways are ADA 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:03.180 compliant. I know there is security if someone 00:06:03.180 --> 00:06:06.100 starts screaming at 3 a .m. And you pay a premium 00:06:06.100 --> 00:06:09.060 for that assurance. I pay for safety. In the 00:06:09.060 --> 00:06:12.360 short -term rental market, that assurance is, 00:06:12.459 --> 00:06:16.060 it's not existent. We are talking about residential 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:19.079 units being used as commercial hotels without 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:22.310 any of the commercial safeguards. The safety 00:06:22.310 --> 00:06:25.089 check on these platforms is often just a photo 00:06:25.089 --> 00:06:27.769 verification. You have guests staying in units 00:06:27.769 --> 00:06:31.149 that might violate fire codes, lack proper egress, 00:06:31.189 --> 00:06:34.110 or have dangerous electrical work. And the platform's 00:06:34.110 --> 00:06:36.790 advice is basically contact the host and ask. 00:06:37.029 --> 00:06:40.189 That is a massive regression in consumer protection. 00:06:40.610 --> 00:06:42.910 I think you're underestimating the power of the 00:06:42.910 --> 00:06:47.529 platform's own self -policing mechanisms. Reviews, 00:06:47.529 --> 00:06:51.220 super host status, identity verification. These 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:53.779 are powerful incentives. A host who provides 00:06:53.779 --> 00:06:56.319 an unsafe or dirty environment gets review bumped 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:59.480 and loses business immediately. The market regulates 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:02.139 quality faster than a municipal inspector ever 00:07:02.139 --> 00:07:05.240 could. Plus, the industry is professionalizing. 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:07.800 We see standard practices now like holding deposits, 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:10.819 credit checks, professional cleaning fees. This 00:07:10.819 --> 00:07:12.899 isn't just people throwing a mattress on the 00:07:12.899 --> 00:07:15.759 floor anymore. The market regulates quality, 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:19.550 perhaps, but it doesn't regulate legality. You 00:07:19.550 --> 00:07:22.370 mentioned professionalizing, but I'd argue it's 00:07:22.370 --> 00:07:26.149 evading. Look at the tax situation. Hotels pay 00:07:26.149 --> 00:07:29.470 transient occupancy taxes, funds that go to local 00:07:29.470 --> 00:07:32.089 infrastructure, schools, emergency services. 00:07:32.610 --> 00:07:35.370 Short -term rentals frequently operate in the 00:07:35.370 --> 00:07:38.230 dark, evading these taxes entirely while their 00:07:38.230 --> 00:07:40.709 guests still use the roads, the police, and the 00:07:40.709 --> 00:07:43.610 parks. It's a free rider problem. They want the 00:07:43.610 --> 00:07:45.769 benefits of a hotel business with the responsibilities 00:07:45.769 --> 00:07:48.850 of a private resident. That is changing rapidly, 00:07:49.050 --> 00:07:51.689 though. I mean, most major platforms now collect 00:07:51.689 --> 00:07:53.970 and remit these taxes automatically in thousands 00:07:53.970 --> 00:07:56.769 of jurisdictions. The Wild West era is ending. 00:07:56.949 --> 00:07:59.209 And regarding regulation, look at what London 00:07:59.209 --> 00:08:02.310 did. As of 2019, they introduced a 90 -day cap. 00:08:02.509 --> 00:08:04.430 You can rent your place out, but only for 90 00:08:04.430 --> 00:08:07.350 days a year. Which proves my point. No, no, it 00:08:07.350 --> 00:08:10.290 proves my point. It proves that we can find a 00:08:10.290 --> 00:08:12.949 middle ground. The London model allows the homeowner 00:08:12.949 --> 00:08:15.629 to make some extra income and provides flexibility 00:08:15.629 --> 00:08:18.490 for travelers during peak seasons, but it prevents 00:08:18.490 --> 00:08:20.449 the property from becoming a full -time commercial 00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:23.209 hotel. It preserves the residential character 00:08:23.209 --> 00:08:26.550 without destroying the innovation. That is a 00:08:26.550 --> 00:08:29.870 policy success, not a failure of the model. It's 00:08:29.870 --> 00:08:31.949 a policy that's desperate to catch up with a 00:08:31.949 --> 00:08:35.429 runaway train. And let's be honest, that 90 -day 00:08:35.429 --> 00:08:38.169 cap in London is incredibly difficult to enforce 00:08:38.169 --> 00:08:41.129 without massive resources. But let's step away 00:08:41.129 --> 00:08:43.330 from the high -level policy and talk about the 00:08:43.330 --> 00:08:45.889 actual experience of living next to one of these 00:08:45.889 --> 00:08:49.210 innovations. You mentioned earlier that nuisance 00:08:49.210 --> 00:08:52.950 is subjective. I strongly disagree. How so? One 00:08:52.950 --> 00:08:54.970 neighbor's nuisance is another neighbor's vibrant 00:08:54.970 --> 00:08:57.570 community. There is nothing vibrant about a bachelor 00:08:57.570 --> 00:09:00.529 party arriving at 2 p .m. on a Tuesday in a quiet 00:09:00.529 --> 00:09:03.879 cul -de -sac. The core issue is that the temporary 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:07.139 resident has zero stake in the community. They 00:09:07.139 --> 00:09:09.059 don't care if they park across your driveway. 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:11.799 They don't care if they leave trash bins overflowing. 00:09:11.940 --> 00:09:15.240 They are there to consume the location, not to 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:18.960 contribute to it. But bad neighbors exist everywhere. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:21.519 I mean, come on, I've had long -term neighbors 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:23.600 who played drums at midnight and never mowed 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:25.820 their lawn. You can't attribute standard human 00:09:25.820 --> 00:09:28.240 friction exclusively to short -term renters. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:31.940 The difference is frequency and recourse. If 00:09:31.940 --> 00:09:34.059 your long -term neighbor plays drums at midnight, 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:36.679 you can talk to them. You might have a relationship. 00:09:37.100 --> 00:09:40.740 You can call the landlord. With an STR, the neighbor 00:09:40.740 --> 00:09:44.419 changes every three days. You are in a permanent 00:09:44.419 --> 00:09:47.580 state of negotiation with strangers. Look at 00:09:47.580 --> 00:09:50.419 Santa Cruz, California. The situation got so 00:09:50.419 --> 00:09:53.539 bad that local supervisors had to discuss implementing 00:09:53.539 --> 00:09:56.240 specific parking restrictions in neighborhoods 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:59.139 with high STR density. I know the Santa Cruz 00:09:59.139 --> 00:10:01.500 example well. But look at what actually happened. 00:10:01.659 --> 00:10:05.120 They used policy to solve a friction point. They 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:07.740 prioritized local parking permits. That is how 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:10.320 local government works. It identifies a conflict, 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:13.399 in this case parking scarcity, and it legislates 00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:16.120 a solution. It doesn't mean the STR concept is 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:19.080 invalid. It just means it needs guardrails. But 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:22.879 the fact that you need to legislate Who can park 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:24.960 on a residential street specifically because 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:27.960 of tourists suggests that the use case is invasive. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.240 You are retrofitting a neighborhood to survive 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:34.399 a commercial invasion. And for what? So a landlord 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:37.340 can make that 30 % premium? No, so that a family 00:10:37.340 --> 00:10:40.539 can afford a vacation. So that a digital nomad 00:10:40.539 --> 00:10:43.059 can spend a month contributing to the local economy. 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:46.259 You keep framing this as landlord versus neighbor, 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.019 but you're erasing the guest. These guests spend 00:10:49.019 --> 00:10:51.500 money at local coffee shops, restaurants, and 00:10:51.500 --> 00:10:54.000 grocery stores, often in neighborhoods that don't 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:56.539 get traditional hotel foot traffic. There is 00:10:56.539 --> 00:10:59.019 an economic multiplier effect that goes directly 00:10:59.019 --> 00:11:01.860 into the community. That multiplier effect is 00:11:01.860 --> 00:11:05.200 a myth when you factor in displacement. A local 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:08.139 resident spends money in that coffee shop 365 00:11:08.139 --> 00:11:11.720 days a year. A tourist is there for three days. 00:11:12.250 --> 00:11:15.090 If you displace the local to make room for the 00:11:15.090 --> 00:11:17.889 tourist, you are hollowing out the consistent 00:11:17.889 --> 00:11:21.190 economic base of the neighborhood. You end up 00:11:21.190 --> 00:11:24.230 with these Venice effects, cities that are basically 00:11:24.230 --> 00:11:27.529 theme parks by day and ghost towns by night because 00:11:27.529 --> 00:11:30.529 nobody actually lives there anymore. That is 00:11:30.529 --> 00:11:34.429 such an extreme comparison. Most STRs are not 00:11:34.429 --> 00:11:37.710 in Venice. They are in suburbs or rural areas 00:11:37.710 --> 00:11:40.809 or secondary cities where hotel coverage is terrible. 00:11:41.370 --> 00:11:44.889 In those places, STRs are a lifeline. They bring 00:11:44.889 --> 00:11:47.389 tourism dollars to places Hilton and Marriott 00:11:47.389 --> 00:11:50.210 completely ignore. And for the property owner, 00:11:50.330 --> 00:11:52.490 who might be a retiree trying to pay their rising 00:11:52.490 --> 00:11:55.230 property taxes, that income is the difference 00:11:55.230 --> 00:11:57.750 between keeping their home and selling it. Or 00:11:57.750 --> 00:12:01.490 more often, it's an investment firm buying up 00:12:01.490 --> 00:12:04.350 five single -family homes in a starter neighborhood 00:12:04.350 --> 00:12:07.629 to create a diversified portfolio of rental assets. 00:12:08.220 --> 00:12:11.000 The grandma renting her spare room image is the 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:14.580 marketing brochure. The reality is industrialized, 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:17.580 decentralized hospitality. And unlike the hotel 00:12:17.580 --> 00:12:20.059 industry, which employs staff with benefits, 00:12:20.220 --> 00:12:23.639 protections, and oversight, the SDR industry 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:27.559 relies on a gig economy underclass. Underclass 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:30.899 is a bit dramatic. Is it? Who cleans these units? 00:12:31.100 --> 00:12:34.480 It's not unionized hotel staff. It's often under 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:37.429 -the -table cleaners paid per turnover. with 00:12:37.429 --> 00:12:40.669 zero job security, zero health benefits, and 00:12:40.669 --> 00:12:42.610 zero workers' comp if they slip on a wet floor. 00:12:42.789 --> 00:12:46.190 We are replacing good service jobs with precarious 00:12:46.190 --> 00:12:49.129 gig work, all to shave $20 off the nightly rate 00:12:49.129 --> 00:12:52.110 for a tourist. It's flexible work. Many people 00:12:52.110 --> 00:12:54.509 prefer the ability to pick up cleaning gigs on 00:12:54.509 --> 00:12:56.789 their own schedule rather than clocking into 00:12:56.789 --> 00:12:59.570 a 9 -to -5 hotel shift. And the market creates 00:12:59.570 --> 00:13:01.870 businesses. There are entire small companies 00:13:01.870 --> 00:13:04.529 now dedicated to STR management and cleaning. 00:13:04.870 --> 00:13:07.570 That's entrepreneurship. It's the erosion of 00:13:07.570 --> 00:13:09.470 labor standards masquerading as flexibility, 00:13:09.710 --> 00:13:12.190 just like the erosion of zoning standards is 00:13:12.190 --> 00:13:15.129 masquerading as housing innovation. OK, we are 00:13:15.129 --> 00:13:17.570 going in circles on the morality of the market 00:13:17.570 --> 00:13:20.909 here. So let's try to land this plane. I look 00:13:20.909 --> 00:13:22.990 at short term rentals and I see an inevitable 00:13:22.990 --> 00:13:26.250 evolution. The technology exists to connect people 00:13:26.250 --> 00:13:29.129 with spaces. The demand for flexible, amenity 00:13:29.129 --> 00:13:31.850 rich living, whether for a week or a month, is 00:13:31.850 --> 00:13:34.519 exploding. We cannot stuff that genie back in 00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:36.899 the bottle. The value proposition is just too 00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:40.480 high. 50 % cheaper, full kitchens, pet friendly. 00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:43.220 These are things people really need. And I look 00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:46.659 at it and see a failure to protect the primary 00:13:46.659 --> 00:13:50.720 function of housing, shelter for residents. When 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:53.299 you prioritize the transient over the permanent, 00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:55.960 you break the social contract of the neighborhood. 00:13:56.509 --> 00:13:58.570 The evidence, from the displacement mechanics 00:13:58.570 --> 00:14:01.450 to the safety violations to the simple loss of 00:14:01.450 --> 00:14:04.090 community cohesion, suggests that the price we 00:14:04.090 --> 00:14:06.750 pay for this flexibility is our own stability. 00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:10.210 But don't we value the freedom to do what we 00:14:10.210 --> 00:14:12.789 want with our property? Not when your freedom 00:14:12.789 --> 00:14:15.250 destroys my ability to live next to you in peace. 00:14:15.549 --> 00:14:17.730 It seems the tension really comes down to this. 00:14:18.049 --> 00:14:21.169 Do we build our cities and suburbs to be stable 00:14:21.169 --> 00:14:23.840 fortresses for those who are already there? Or 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:26.379 do we build them as flexible networks for a mobile 00:14:26.379 --> 00:14:29.240 world? A mobile world is fine as long as you 00:14:29.240 --> 00:14:32.080 have a home to come back to. My fear is that 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:34.559 in this new model, home becomes just another 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:37.860 booking. A sobering thought to end on. We've 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:40.980 laid out the economics, the ethics, and the community 00:14:40.980 --> 00:14:43.919 impact. Now it's up to you to look at your own 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:46.220 neighborhood and decide which version of the 00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:49.899 future you want to see. Or perhaps, which version 00:14:49.899 --> 00:14:52.500 you can afford to live in. Thanks for listening 00:14:52.500 --> 00:14:53.159 to The Debate.