Do not be suckered into believing that the so-called “sharing economy” is some kind of salvation. For starters, corporations that pass themselves off as agents of this rapidly growing phenomenon have nothing to do with sharing.

On Wednesday, Vancouver city council was to receive the latest briefing from staff on just what to do about one of those corporations, Airbnb. That is the online platform that has, in just a few years, propelled itself into a multi-billion dollar global operation that facilitates short-term rentals of accommodations. As you may know, in our town Airbnb has also signed up thousands of listings, including whole houses and condos, to the point where it is seriously diminishing an already miniscule vacancy rate.

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At the same time, both Vancouver and the province are struggling to seek solutions for yet another member of the “sharing economy” fraternity, Uber. Uber’s online platform, like Airbnb, is both global and worth billions. Uber puts together people who need a ride with people who own a car and will, for a fee, take them where they want to go. So far they have been blocked from operating in B.C.

Both Uber and Airbnb are more correctly part of a phenomenon of “disruptors” known as the “platform economy.” That would include Amazon, Alibaba and Facebook. What they disrupt in most cases are older generation bricks and mortar corporations. Their platforms exist thanks to the Internet and the global proliferation of portable devices that allow people to connect electronically.

They also have this in common: Airbnb, unlike the hotel industry it is nudging out of the way, owns no buildings. Uber owns no cars. Facebook, while facilitating data exchanges, provides none of its own data. And neither Amazon nor Alibaba create the goods they offer for sale.

When I think of the sharing economy, I have more of a cooperative model in mind; something like a group of people who want occasional access to carpentry tools and a space to use them in, so they get together to buy the tools and rent a workshop.

That is not what Uber or Airbnb are about. Basically, they are for-profit corporations that put buyers and sellers together and charge a significant commission. Uber apparently takes 30 per cent of the fare a driver charges.

In advance of Vancouver city staff presenting its briefing on Airbnb to council, two things happened. Airbnb dispatched its head of Global Policy and Public Affairs, Chis Lehane, to lobby key city political players (as well as visiting the local crew at the Globe and Mail). According to Airbnb’s website, Lehane’s main job is to “educate more people” about “the right to share your home.” There’s that word “share” again.

To coincide with this campaign of persuasion, Airbnb started running a series of radio, TV and Internet ads. We got to meet an Airbnb “host” Michelle, who turns out to be a woman named Michele (correct spelling) Hall.

She explains she is on a “small pension” so “I think the shared economy is a brilliant idea” she tells us.

And then she says, “we are using technology to create community,” although exactly how renting a room out for a day or two to a tourist will do that is unclear. And, in case you missed it, she rephrases it this way: Airbnb is “a great way to bring community together.”

Try telling that to the thousands of people who are unable to find long-term rental accommodations in this city or those who have been evicted so that property owners can improve their own economy by “sharing” their houses and condos for short-term rentals.

As for Uber’s push to get into the market here, both the city and the provincial government have been heavily lobbied by cab drivers and their supporters who see their livelihoods threatened. That’s a good reason to expect nothing on the issue from Victoria except more “consultation” until after the provincial election.

Meanwhile, consider this observation from Guardian writer Steven Poole on the corporate creatures of the sharing economy: “What all these artificial constructs amount to for Uber, Airbnb and the like is an attempt to bypass laws enacted over decades precisely in order to protect both renters and landlords, taxi drivers and passengers.”

agarr@vancourier.com

@allengarr