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crowdsourced delivery services, also known as Homesharing
crowdshipping, were piloted in many parts of the world A persistent challenge facing emergency managers is
by pharmacies and grocery stores to deliver prescription establishing emergency shelter and housing plans that
medications, personal protective equipment, and food (Ait, can accommodate a wide range of variables — incident
2020; Mahoney, 2020; Heater, 2020). scale, scope, and duration; sheltering and housing phases,
particularly the phases prior to the restoration of
These examples demonstrate the social and economic value permanent housing; and evacuee demographics such as
that the sharing economy — an economic model in which gender, age, ethnicity, and family size; among a host of other
individuals share their belongings and services with others variables.
for a fee or no fee — brings to disaster and emergency
management and business continuity (Holmes & McGuinty, Homesharing – a service in which individuals rent
2015). Currently, however, the sharing economy is seldom “their residence, or part of their residence, for short
considered or formally included in disaster and emergency [or extended] periods of time through internet-based
management and business continuity plans, policies, and platforms” — is emerging as a new solution to emergency
procedures. shelter and housing needs (Ministry of Finance, 2018).

This piece briefly discusses three types of sharing economy Due to urban population growth and density, it is
services — ridesharing, homesharing, and crowdshipping becoming increasingly difficult to house disaster evacuees
— and highlights the roles each can play in disaster and in traditional facilities such as community centres, schools,
emergency management and business continuity. gymnasiums, houses of worship, and conference centres.
In fact, overcrowding is one of the most frequently cited
Ridesharing sheltering challenges and the pandemic highlighted how
Ridesharing services, which represent the largest sector congested living conditions can lead to reduced hygiene and
of the sharing economy in Canada, the United States, and an increased likelihood of an infectious disease outbreak.
the world, connect passengers in need of transportation Utilizing homesharing services can decrease shelter
with drivers who have empty seats in their vehicles. overcrowding by decentralizing disaster shelter and housing.
The “on-demand flexibility and supply scalability” of
ridesharing positions it as an ideal strategy for facilitating In other words, placing evacuees and evacuee families
mass evacuation and relocation of disaster victims during with homesharing hosts can successfully reduce demand
response and recovery, specifically when traditional public for traditional emergency shelter and housing. Beyond
transportation modes become inoperable or overwhelmed overcrowding, homesharing could remedy other
(Borowski & Stathopoulos, 2020). longstanding emergency shelter issues such as lack of
agency, limited privacy, family separation, safety and
During Hurricane Sandy, for instance, 375,000 residents security risks, and cultural insensitivity, all of which
of downtown New York City, many of whom did not own disproportionately impact racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual
vehicles (a growing trend in major urban centres), were minorities. For example, research from the University of
ordered to evacuate the area. However, self-evacuation was Saskatchewan found that existing approaches to emergency
not possible in many cases and all public transportation evacuation, shelter, and housing are “top-down,” “inflexible,”
services, including buses, subways, and trains, were and “centralized,” resulting in “negative emotional
suspended due to extreme flooding and large-scale power experiences” among Indigenous peoples because they
outages. Consequently, many affected residents relied on evoke “comparisons with residential schools” (Poole et
ridesharing services to safely evacuate the disaster zone, al., 2020). Homesharing is emerging as a more culturally
including transit-dependent populations such as students, appropriate alternative to traditional approaches as it
people with accessibility needs, low-income families, the empowers marginalized groups and communities through a
elderly, and those who resided in areas where there were bottom-up, flexible, and decentralized approach.
limited public transportation services.
While local, provincial, and federal emergency management
Moreover, formally integrating ridesharing services into agencies have yet to formally integrate homesharing
evacuation planning and operations effectively raises into their emergency shelter and housing plans, global
evacuation capacity and lowers evacuation vulnerability, humanitarian not-forprofits are beginning to embrace the
two increasingly real risks facing densely populated urban idea. For example, the Red Cross recently partnered with
metropolises. More importantly, these services will also the world’s leading homesharing platform to offer free
reduce logistics demands on first responders, enabling them temporary housing to disaster victims, refugees, and asylum
to focus more time and resources on administering life- seekers who have lost their homes to natural disasters or
saving interventions and care. political conflicts as well as to first responders, medical
professionals, and relief workers who have been deployed
internationally in response and recovery efforts.

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