Frequently Searched

Academic Transparency

Civil Forfeiture

Critical Race Theory

Right to Try

School Choice

Putting out the Welcome Mat for Property Rights

November 13, 2019
by Goldwater Institute

November 13, 2019
By Jon Riches

The right to use one’s home as one sees fit so long as the use does not harm one’s neighbor is a central tenet of American life. Two such uses—the ability to share one’s home with guests and work out of one’s home—have been common for centuries. In recent years, the internet has allowed people to communicate better and connect more efficiently, which has resulted in the rise of home-sharing platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway. At the same time, technological advances have made operating a home business, and working from one’s own home, easier and more practical for millions of Americans. 

But with the increased accessibility of home-sharing and the increased practicality of home-based businesses, regulators have imposed more and more restrictions on these common uses of residential property. A new paper, co-written by me and Anastasia Boden of the Pacific Legal Foundation, explores these regulatory responses to home-sharing and home-based businesses. Published as part of the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project, the paper observes that state and local restrictions on home-sharing and home-based businesses are preventing homeowners from best utilizing their property to offer innovative services to consumers and unique experiences to guests. The costs associated with these regulations often prevent the desired use altogether, and the purported benefits resulting from such regulations can already be realized from existing regulations, such as nuisance laws and other local public safety regulations. Because of the convenience, cost efficiency, and increasing popularity of home-sharing platforms and the opportunities created by home-based businesses, reforms in this area should seek to expand, rather than restrict, such uses of residential property. 

You can read the full paper, Live, Work, Share: Putting out the Welcome Mat to Home-Sharing and Home-Based Businesses, here.

Jon Riches is the Director of National Litigation at the Goldwater Institute.

 

 

More on this issue

Donate Now

Help all Americans live freer, happier lives. Join the Goldwater Institute as we defend and strengthen freedom in all 50 states.

Donate Now

Since 1988, the Goldwater Institute has been in the liberty business — defending and promoting freedom, and achieving more than 400 victories in all 50 states. Donate today to help support our mission.

We Protect Your Rights

Our attorneys defend individual rights and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Need Help? Submit a case.
Join our pro-bono attorney network.

Get Connected to Goldwater

Sign up for the latest news, event updates, and more.

Wait! Don’t close this yet!

We are grateful for your support of the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to advance and defend liberty throughout the United States. For over 36 years, we’ve been defending the rights of Americans to live their lives free from government interference.

And Goldwater is unique in that we direct our efforts to the 50 states where we introduce and advance innovative ideas that expand freedom. And we fight in courtrooms and capitals nationwide to defend individual liberty.

In 2024 alone, we scored over 50 policy and litigation victories defending liberty!

And that’s just the beginning.

Our plans for 2025 include:

  • Stopping pernicious DEI and other woke programs in America’s universities.
  • Ensuring that patients suffering from rare and terminal diseases have access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical treatments, without having to first seek permission from the government.
  • Defending parental rights across the United States so that parents can send their kids to the school that best fits their needs, free from leftist indoctrination.
  • Eliminating government interference in the fundamental right of individuals to own property and use it as they see fit.
  • And much, much more

We seek to restore the presumption of liberty; that people are free to act without first asking permission from the government.

But we cannot do this without you. Will you join us as we fight to preserve and advance liberty throughout the country? As we seek new and innovative ways to defend freedom in all 50 states?

And there’s great news: Thanks to a generous Goldwater supporter, your donation today will be doubled!

So please, join us in fighting to advance liberty and score real wins for freedom from coast to coast!

Donate Now