Airbnb and others are rental affordability lightning rods. Will reforms help?
As politicians pitch tighter regulations on the short-term rental market as a path to housing affordability in Canada, there is renewed debate about whether tougher crackdowns on Airbnb and others like it will make a notable improvement.
British Columbia’s announcement on Monday that it would roll out new rules governing short-term rental sites like Airbnb and Vrbo reignited a long-running discussion in Canada about the impact these platforms have on rental affordability in the country.
The regulations would see hosts in the province limited to renting out only their primary residences and one secondary suite, with smaller towns exempt from the rules. Fines would also be increased for those breaking municipal rules.
B.C. Premier David Eby positioned the crackdown as a path to restoring housing affordability.
“Anyone who’s looking for an affordable place to live knows how hard it is, and short-term rentals are making it even more challenging,” he said Monday.
Regulating the short-term rental market is typically in the provincial or municipal jurisdiction, with many cities, including Toronto and Vancouver, and the province of Quebec already putting rules and licensing requirements in place to govern how hosts using Airbnb and its ilk can operate.
But Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, weighed in on the matter on Tuesday, calling B.C.’s crackdown “very important” and encouraging other provinces to follow its lead.
Though she acknowledged short-term rentals are usually the purview of other levels of government, Freeland said Ottawa is looking to see if there are any “tools” in the federal toolbox to “relieve pressure” on the tight rental market.
“We are looking around and are saying, what
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