Ongoing policy work by the province is reported in a November report on short-term rents from the BC Union of Municipalities, said David Eby.
Attorney General and Housing Minister David Eby says it makes sense to require companies to promote short-term rentals through online platforms that share information with local governments.
If the province introduces this regulation, these companies will face mandatory reporting requirements to ensure that they share data (on location, for example) on rents with municipalities.
Local governments could check the information with their list of short-term rental permits and carry out the application, Eby said in an interview.
“He [short-term rental] unit holders would obtain a city permit and the city could compare its list of permits with data provided by companies to determine which were licensed and which were not, and do so accordingly.
“That makes a lot of sense to me.”
Ongoing political work for the province is reported in a November report on short-term rents from the BC Union of Municipalities, Eby said. A joint UBCM-provincial advisory group made 13 recommendations for the province to consider, including the need for online platforms for data sharing.
There are challenges in this work, as companies may be international and there may be issues about jurisdiction, but “I think we will eventually succeed,” he said.
A short-term rental is a reservation of less than 30 consecutive days. A homeowner who rents out their entire home can occasionally rent out their entire home unit in the short term. Stays of more than 30 days rental are considered long-term.
Cities can issue licenses for short-term rentals and control that program, Eby said. But, “the challenge they have is that it’s very difficult to enforce: it basically requires the work of a private detective on the part of the neighbors or the agents of the statute and they just don’t have the capacity to do it.”
Many short-term rental deals are not licensed by the city and do not disclose their addresses, which is a burden on the city of Victoria when it comes to execution.
As of Thursday, Victoria City Council has 585 short-term rentals with a license or pending approval. The website airdna (airdna.co) which analyzes short-term rental data shows a much higher number of short-term rentals. He claims there are 1,063 lists available in Victoria, indicating that hundreds are unlicensed.
Victoria moved on Thursday to add three employees to its team of four short-term hire people, who are paid with license fees.
The issue of short-term rentals is relevant to residents who may find the activity disturbing. Unlicensed units or homes may not pay the municipal fees required to operate, avoiding a fee paid by other commercial operations.
Most critical is the question of how the number of short-term rentals, some grouped in multi-family buildings in the city, affects the availability of affordable housing at a time when many residents have difficulty finding a place to live.
Victoria, along with other communities in the province, is facing a housing crisis.
Despite the continued multifamily construction in the capital region, many people are desperate to find a place to live. Posts on social media show the despair of individuals and families.
In its February rental report, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation put Victoria’s vacancy rate at a very tight 1%. The city has struggled with low unemployment rates for decades.
Victoria Coun. Stephen Andrew echoed requests for provincial regulations insisting that short-term rental websites must publish a copy of a municipal license.
There are hundreds of short-term rental units that could be released if they were removed from this pool, Andrew said.
Andrew said there is nothing wrong when some people want to make extra money.
“We are in a housing crisis and we have to deal with it and that is only part of it.”
The province must assess the matter, Andrew said. “No matter how prescriptive they plan to be in zoning, they need to be prescriptive on this issue and help us ensure that we can open these units so that families can live there,” he said.
In February, Eby announced that the province is considering legislation that would take some of the permitting powers that local governments now have to see more houses built in the province. This could lead to the final decision-making for the approval of housing permits moving away from the municipalities.
Not enough housing is being approved to meet the growing needs of the population, Eby said, adding that BC could have to be more prescriptive because the status quo is not acceptable.
Victoria’s housing market is so tight that Andrew said there have been people who have signed agreements to work in the city but then had to step back because they couldn’t find a home.
He said municipalities in the region should work together to adopt similar legislation governing short-term rents. Otherwise, short-term rentals will be promoted in neighboring municipalities, such as Esquimalt and Saanich.
Eby said that during the pandemic, some operators took their short-term rentals out of this pool.
“We had a bit of a break from the impact of short-term rentals on long-term rentals, and that was because tourists disappeared and a lot of people turned what were once short-term rentals into long-term rentals. and it had a really positive and apparent impact on housing availability. “
He believes that carefully monitoring short-term rentals could improve the availability of long-term rental housing.
As for limiting the number of short-term rentals, Eby said municipalities are in the best position to make that determination. It will vary by city.
“Some cities are very holiday destinations and short-term rentals are a key part of their economic strategy,” he said.
“They also have to balance that with housing for workers and the tourism industry, and they’ve really struggled with that.”
He said the province has funded municipalities across BC to study housing needs.
cjwilson@timescolonist.com