Narratively

Obsessively renting out my home was the only way I could make it in the gig economy. When I found myself sleeping on the subway, I realized I’d gone too far.

Long before “the sharing economy” took the Internet by storm, an ailing German adventurer and a benevolent Spanish couple sparked a forty-year experiment in ad-hoc hospitality.

Determined to quit his tired government job, one D.C. office drone saves $25,000 by renting his apartment nightly and secretly sleeping on the office floor.

When a pristine studio sublet seems too good to be true, a desperate New York renter descends into an infuriating web of secrets and lies.

Is couchsurfing.org a brave social experiment spreading love and hospitality around the world—or a hedonistic haven for creeps seeking an easy lay?