B.C. government says Airbnb is trying to 'manufacture a crisis' on regulations

The BC Ministry of Housing and Airbnb are tangled in a war of words regarding provincial regulations aimed at curbing illegal short-term listings and increasing the number of homes in the long-term rental market.

On Friday morning, we received an email from Airbnb, which stated that the Province’s short-term rental regulations were “spiralling into a crisis.”

Airbnb told Daily Hive that on June 23, the Province would proceed with mass cancellations, which, according to the rental platform, is punishing individuals who are following the rules. Airbnb claims it’s related to a flawed verification and registration system.

The BC Conservative Caucus is also sounding alarm bells about vacation rental cancellations.

Is this a manufactured crisis?

Airbnb informed Daily Hive about a short-term host named Sandra, who has a listing in Mount Washington, “who watched more than 15 reservations vanish, including bookings from international guests stretching into 2026.”

“Nearly 600 listings on Airbnb alone are failing verification due to technical errors from a flawed registration system. This is in addition to the thousands of hosts we have supported through technical flaws over the past several weeks,” Airbnb told Daily Hive.

Daily Hive Urbanized had a chat with B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon for a conversation regarding the Airbnb claims and the general state of housing in the province last week.

“We have 24,000 short-term rental listings that have been validated,” Kahlon said.

The Province itself has information about this on its website and provides guidance to individuals whose short-term rental listings were removed.

Kahlon thinks the panic is baseless.

“Airbnb has made it clear that it’s using any opportunity it has to get rid of the regulations,” he said.

“In my opinion, they’re trying to manufacture a crisis so they can campaign against this, and they’re using their hosts to do that.”

We put that claim to Airbnb.

“It’s deeply irresponsible for the minister to call this a manufactured crisis, and last week accusing Airbnb of playing politics. The minister is recklessly disregarding the economic impact a flawed system like this has on responsible British Columbian hosts, travellers booking trips this summer and small businesses that rely on tourism spending in this economic climate.”

Kahlon said that the province will help anyone who has issues.

“We have 24,000 short-term rental listings that have been validated. Ninety-six per cent of all listings have been corrected, both through platforms and through the province, and the remaining 4 per cent may have some listings with data discrepancies. And if that’s the case, people can call us. We have a 24-hour turnaround to correct anything that’s on our side, and the platforms have to do that as well,” Kahlon said.

He also said that within that 4 per cent, there could be folks who don’t have the proper paperwork or local government approval.

Airbnb had some thoughts on that as well, saying, “The minister keeps changing his numbers. Last week, he said only 4 listings were not validated, and now he’s saying that it’s 4 percent. Which one is it?”

Airbnb states that the verification system requires hosts to ensure that the listing information matches the exact details they provided in their government application, including street number, address, postal code, and unit number, all in the specific format used by the government. This isn’t information the government is hiding. The B.C. government’s registration page offers the same guidance.

The BC Ministry of Housing provided additional context on the 4 per cent, stating that it may be a case of the system identifying illegal listings that are better suited for people to live in.

“That’s what we designed the system to do.”

The ministry also said that since June 2, it has made 1,500 updates to registry info for those who have requested it, and those requests were addressed within one business day.

Airbnb told Daily Hive that it estimates as many as 15 per cent of listings have been impacted by address formatting mismatches, despite having a government-approved permit.

Will Vancouver have enough room for FIFA visitors?

In a release earlier this month, Airbnb said regulations “reduce tourism spending in areas with limited hotel capacity, and hinder the province’s ability to host major events like the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.”

We also asked Kahlon a little bit about the upcoming FIFA World Cup and if there would be enough space for visitors. He feels confident that there will be an adequate supply of housing, not just in Vancouver but in other municipalities in Metro Vancouver, when the world visits next year.

There’s another option that Kahlon has been seeing presented as an idea, including by the opposition, one he calls “ludicrous.” He has heard suggestions that people should be allowed to rent out their primary residences during the FIFA World Cup in Vancouver.

“The idea that we’re going to let landlords kick people out so they make some money during a World Cup is just craziness.”

He added, “We seem to get this continuously from the opposition. It doesn’t make sense. And so that’s certainly not something we’re going to consider.”

There are other reasons why Kahlon isn’t too concerned about housing for visitors to Vancouver next year. He said that if you look at major events around the world, such as the Calgary Stampede, there is a portion of the population that tends to leave town, renting out their homes while they’re away (without having to evict tenants).

“It won’t be just Vancouver. People will stay in Richmond. People will stay in Burnaby, in New West, in Surrey. And that means we can distribute the benefits of the World Cup to multiple communities in the region, which I think is healthy as well.”

Housing is headed in the right direction, but still lots of work to do

Conversations about Airbnb and short-term rentals, along with the available supply, all tie into a larger conversation about the general state of housing in the province, which we had some questions for Kahlon about.

Since short-term regulations took effect, the Province has seen some successes, including a decline in average asking rents. Kahlon agrees that it’s still not at a level that many would call ‘affordable.’

“Part of the success is actually creating new challenges in the home-building industry, and we’re seeing that reflected in some of the large companies who have been scaling up, now starting to scale down, because the projects can’t pencil.”

There is also the reality of increased building costs, which are then passed on to the consumer, leading to a vicious cycle of unaffordability.

Kahlon said he had a recent conversation with Federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson, and that the Province will be announcing some news within the next two weeks on this front.

“We are just finalizing some initiatives that I think will help the industry quite a bit.”