Lecturer Calvin Welch Comments on Airbnb's 'Sense of Lawlessness'

WIRED -- Calvin Welch, a longtime housing activist and part-time instructor at San Francisco State University, says Airbnb’s push against Proposition F speaks to “the blatant illegality and disregard for local law shown by Airbnb.” “This is part of [the same problem with] Uber, and others,” Welch says. “There’s this sense of lawlessness among these well-heeled, web-based tech companies, and it’s really quite frightening to people.” Welch argues that Airbnb’s position that Proposition F is “too extreme” really means that it’s too effective. “Airbnb makes money by abusing the existing ordinance, and it’s obvious that they do,” he says. “They continue to list people who are not registered.”