City of Vancouver may soon be forced to disclose Airbnb licence data

Daniel Krason/Shutterstock

The challenges that plague Vancouver when it comes to housing have been well documented, and according to some, Airbnb plays a large role in the housing crisis.

While the data on licences for businesses operating in Vancouver is published by the City, up until now, the City wasn’t sharing numbers when it came to Airbnb.

Thanks to ongoing work that was done by a group of housing activists, Vancouver may soon have to disclose that information.

You might also like:

Rohana Rezel, a local housing activist and former Vancouver City Council candidate posted the news about the changes on his website.

Rezel argues that Airbnb should be banned in Vancouver — a city struggling to keep up with the demand for housing — completely.

“The City of Vancouver should make cracking down on Airbnb a priority.”

We won! The City of Vancouver has been ordered to disclose the Airbnb licence database.#vanre #vanpoli https://t.co/Qk00KQbqBY

— Rohana Rezel (@rohanarezel) January 31, 2022

Why take on Airbnb?

Daily Hive reached out to Rezel to ask why this was such a big deal.

Rezel pointed to the housing crisis.

“One-in-five Vancouverites spend 50% or more of their income on rent. There are thousands visibly homeless and tens of thousands living in vans or couch surfing with friends. At the same time, we have seen study after study that shows Airbnb to be a major factor in making housing unaffordable by taking rentals off the long term market.”

He said that he was infuriated that Vancouver wasn’t working for its citizens.

“I found it infuriating that the City of Vancouver would side with a predatory multinational instead of working for the citizens of Vancouver. I felt that political leadership has failed us, especially renters. I knew I had to act because our leaders sure weren’t.”

Rezel also mentioned how long of a legal process this was, and how the City of Vancouver “deployed an army of lawyers to argue their case.”

According to Rezel, the result of this decision will be that every Airbnb listing will potentially be subjected to public scrutiny.

“The public will be able to easily identify bad actors. Under such scrutiny, the City will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to what the scofflaws are doing. The City of Vancouver will need to become much tougher with the enforcement.”

Just before Christmas last year, the Office of the Information and the Privacy Commissioner (OIPCBC) ruled in Rezel’s favour.

The OIPCBC document states, “the application requested information about short-term rental accommodation and Airbnb in the City of Vancouver.”

“The City refused access to the requested information under ss. 15(1) (harm to law enforcement), 19(1) (harm to individual safety), 21 (1) (harm to third party business interests) and 22(1) (harm to third party personal privacy) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.”

“The adjudicator found that the City was authorized or required to refuse access to a small amount of the information under ss. 15(1)(f), 19(1)(a) and 21(1). However, none of the exceptions applied to the rest of the disputed information and the City was ordered to disclose it to the applicant.”

Daily Hive reached out to the City of Vancouver, and according to their records, Airbnb has actually filed a petition for judicial review of the OIPCBC decision.

“Airbnb waited till the last possible day to file a judicial review. The City could’ve released the information earlier if they wanted to,” said Rezel in response.

“I expect the case to be tossed out in short order.”

Many housing activists have suggested that Airbnb is displacing potential renters. This blog from Ulrike Rodrigues — a vocal housing activist who tragically passed away last year — sheds light on some of the potential issues that Airbnb creates for renters.