EU proposes sweeping restrictions on short-term rentals to ease housing crisis

Across European cities where the promise of the sharing economy has long competed with the needs of permanent residents, the European Union is now moving to impose meaningful limits on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb. The proposal reflects a deepening political consensus that housing — as shelter, as community, as a foundation for ordinary life — must take precedence over the convenience of tourism. It is a moment in which the digital economy's most celebrated disruptions are being measured not by their innovation, but by their consequences.