A Vancouver city councillor is eyeing regulation of home-sharing services like Airbnb, as the city’s rental vacancy rate hovers near zero.
Coun. Geoff Meggs wants to expand and accelerate a study already under way by city staff on the effect Airbnb and similar websites are having on the supply of rental housing.
“We’re going to an enormous amount of trouble to try to produce rental housing. We’re not doing it for tourist accommodation. We’re doing it for people who otherwise could not afford to live and work in the city of Vancouver,” Meggs said in an interview.
“I personally would like to see the rules toughened up to make sure that rental housing stayed rental.”
Vancouver is the latest jurisdiction to grapple with the rise of Airbnb and other websites that allow residents to rent out units or rooms to visitors for short-term stays.
Portland, Ore., has required people listing spaces on Airbnb to obtain a permit since 2014, while Quebec became the first province in Canada to introduce regulations last year, requiring regular users to get a certificate from the tourism ministry and pay a 3.5-per-cent lodging tax.
Vancouver bylaws prohibit rentals of less than 30 days outside designated hotel and bed and breakfast zones and without a business licence, which means most people renting units using Airbnb are likely doing so illegally, Meggs said.
Read more @ http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/rental-housing-is-for-residents-says-vancouver-councillor-eyeing-airbnb-rules
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