How the sharing economy is catching on

When my neighbour Jim shares his power washer he does so knowing that I'm happy to loan him my table saw when heneeds to cut up a piece of plywood.

Between us there's a fence but certainly no middle man collecting fees.We call it sharing.

Listening to the creators of the biggest, most profitable "sharing economy" websites, you really have towonder how we've come to describe this new method of doing business in this way.

And the need to pay attention is no small matter. Your neighbours are doing it.

Take Airbnb,for example. Nathan Blecharczyk is a Harvard-educated software engineer. At 31, he is also one of the world's youngest billionaires.

Heand his two former roommates, Brian Cheskey and Joe Gebbia, founded Airbnb in 2008, after they blew up some air mattresses and charged some out of town conference-goers to crash at their apartment.

With a thousand bucks in their pockets they thought there must be tens of thousands of others who would be willing to do the same.

At first, investors were wary, says Blecharczyk.

"Many investors questioned whether it was abusiness at all.Many people we approached in 2008thought to themselves, 'I certainly wouldn't dothis.' And if so, it must be a very small market.

"Well, we've proven them all totally wrong."

A business is born

Indeed, it turns out there are millions of homeowners who are willing to rent out a room,suite or theirwhole home on a short-term rental basis.

Airbnbtakes a small cut from both the homeowner and renter.

In return, both owner and renterget some guarantees, albeit limited, that the homeowner will be paid promptly and for the renter there's a guarantee that the place is pretty much as advertised.

After each stay, both sides review the other and then post those reviews for all to see thus the partierswho make big messes get weeded out pretty fast.

The success of Airbnb has caught on big time. In Blecharczyk's words,"Our success has inspired a whole newclass of companies. And this is has been calledthe sharing economy, or peer-to-peer economy,and I think that's great."

Sharing economy not working for everyone

But, great for whom?

The city that is home to Airbnb's corporate headquarters is also arguably the headquarters of this new way of doing business.Welcome to San Francisco, wherethe mayor and councillorshave been getting an earful.

Take arecent, 11-hourpublic hearing featuringhundreds of citizens, some in tears, someangry, all raising their voices over the fallout from everybody sharing a room or two.

Whole neighbourhoods zoned single family are suddenly more akin to hotel row.In apartment buildings strangers are handed the keys to the front door.

In low-rent districts, renters are being booted in favour ofmore lucrative short-term stays. Granted, on the other side, homeowners sideswiped by the financial meltdown are using the extra income to pay their mortgages and feed the kids.

One irate resident is Calvin Welch, aself-described "old hippy" living in San Francisco'sHaight-Ashburyneighbourhood.He is gob-smacked by the notion thatthis peer-to-peer economy can be described as sharing.

"That's the amazing thing about this whole sharing economy. How much the business model depends upon illegal actions. Actions that are actually illegal,"saidWelch.

Low income homes threatened

Standing outside a low-rent hotel on the fringe of the business district,Welch, in animated tones, says,"There are about 19,000 of these units in San Francisco.They are critically important for seniors and single folks.And now what's happened? They are beingconverted on the sly to Airbnbs."

A San Francisco Chronicle investigation discovered two-thirdsofAirbnb rentals in the city were not rooms in homes, butentire apartments, and in areas where short-term rentalsare restricted.

The ride share service called Uber is also headquartered in San Francisco.A recent local articlestatedtaxi rides have fallen an astounding 65 per centas folks who need rides shift to Uber and other similar companies that allow anyone with a car to become atemporary taxi driver.

In Vancouver you can log onto the Tool Library and share tools. Or, if you're really a trusting soul, log onto Part Time Pooch and offer your familypet for a shared walk with a stranger.

The creator of that website is collecting fees much like the folks at Airbnb.

Is that thetrue engine poweringthe sharing economy?

Hillary Hennigar is a young woman who's working hard to makeends meet in an expensive city, and she uses sharing websites for along list of needs: from her car, to tools, travel accommodationsand office space.

She can't afford to buy any of that stuff.That ability of the smart web-entrepreneursto link her to folks who want torent theirstuff is what this is all about.

Just don't call it sharing, and don't tell Jim he can rent his power washer to strangers for a fee.