Airbnb has gotten more popular over the past few years, but with that popularity has comes calls for better regulation.
A recent study from the Angus Reid Institute found that the percentage of respondents who knew what Airbnb even was has gone up drastically since they last administered the survey in 2016.
Two year ago only 62% of respondents had even heard of Airbnb, let alone used it, yet that number has now increased to 87%, with 12% having stayed in an Airbnb at some point.
Angus Reid Institute
The study, which was administered online between February 15 and 19 to 2,501 Canadian adults, also found that respondents’ relaxed attitudes towards Airbnb had slightly shifted since 2016.
A large part of the issue, according to the study, is that some people believe that the ability for living spaces to be used as Airbnb destinations, as opposed to long-term rental spaces, is causing problems for the rental markets in some cities.
Vancouver and Toronto have recently introduced stricter regulations to ensure that Airbnb is not causing issues for renters in their cities, and it appears that more Canadians would like to see those regulations copied throughout the country.
Angus Reid Institute
Overall, just over half of all respondents (54%) said that they would prefer for the service to be regulated the same as hotels, which is a 11% increase over the same findings from 2016.
Naturally, the call for stricter regulations was highest in BC, where renters of Metro Vancouver have been facing high costs of living, rising rental prices, and increasingly shrinking living spaces.
Angus Reid Institute
According to the study, only one portion of Canada was opposed to the idea of restricting the short-term rental of suites, and that was in the Atlantic provinces.
Even then, there was only a 1% difference between those who opposed the idea, and those who supported it.
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