The British Columbia government introduced new legislation Monday aimed at increasing badly needed rental housing, in part by forcing those offering short-term accommodation to live on the property they're renting.
The legislation would rein in the rapidly expanding short-term rental market, the government said.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon, who tabled the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act, said there has been "an explosion" of the rental units and the legislation will target areas with high housing needs.
"Vacancy rates across the province are extremely low. People are struggling to find homes that they can afford and the rapid increase in short-term rentals is making the problem worse," he said.
Short-term rentals remove thousands of homes from B.C.'s communities, Kahlon said.
The legislation would force short-term rental platforms to share their data with the province for enforcement and tax purposes and would limit short-term rentals to within a host’s own home, or a basement suite or laneway home on their property.
Most of the rules will apply to communities that have a population of 10,000 or more.
The province names 58 communities — from Vancouver to Sechelt — as having a population of more than 10,000 people and it also includes eight adjacent communities that would be covered under the new regulations.
Among the tools being introduced are increased fines for hosts who break local bylaw rules, from $1,000 to $3,000 for each infraction per day, the requirement for short-term rental platforms to include business licenses and registration numbers of listings and that the same platforms share data with municipalities to improve local enforcement.
The changes will be phased in, with the principal residence requirement to be implemented by next May and data sharing expected from platforms by next summer.
Short-term rental hosts will also have to join a provincial registry, and the government will launch a compliance and enforcement unit to make sure the rules are being followed.
The government said short-term rental listings on online platforms, such as Airbnb, VRBO, Expedia and FlipKey have expanded rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic and are now at an all-time high.
A statement from Alex Howell, the Canada Airbnb policy manager, said short-term rental rules are not an effective solution to local housing concerns.
"The B.C. government’s proposed legislation won't alleviate the province's housing concerns, instead it will take money out of the pockets of British Columbians, make travel more unaffordable for millions of residents who travel within B.C., and reduce tourism spending in communities where hosts are often the only providers of local accommodations."
The statement called on the B.C. government to "pursue more sensible regulation," choosing instead to listen to tourists and businesses who will face impacts from the legislation.
Howell said the housing crisis is an issue of building more supply in B.C. and not restricting short-term rentals.
Premier David Eby said the number of short-term rentals has ballooned in recent years and the government is taking action to reduce “profit-driven mini-hotel operators” by bringing in new enforcement tools.
“Without question short-term rentals have gotten out of control,” said Eby at a news conference. “This is one more step to address the housing crisis.”
David Wachsmuth, the Canada research chair in urban governance at McGill University, said in the statement the new policy will set a new Canadian standard that the rest of the country should emulate.
“These are sensible, evidence-based rules that are going to prioritize the needs of B.C. residents and get available rental housing back on the long-term market where it belongs."
Research from McGill University specifically on the B.C. market indicates there are more than 16,000 entire homes pulled from the rental market that are used for short-term rentals. Ten per cent of the hosts earn 48 per cent of all revenue and nearly half of the operators have multiple listings, the research said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2023.
Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press
