Does Vancouver need to take a New York-style approach with Airbnb?
Should the City of Vancouver take the New York City (NYC) approach to Airbnb and short-term rentals, or will it just make things worse?
NYC recently implemented strict regulations against them, which some equate to a ban.
While there’s clearly a need to address the issue in Vancouver, is taking the NYC approach to Airbnb the best way forward?
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What’s New York doing?
The rules that went into effect in NYC require all short-term rental hosts to register with the city. Only people who live in the place they’ve listed and are present when someone is booking can qualify. On top of that, there can only be two guests.
According to an article from Wired, before regulations took effect in September, about 22,000 short-term rentals were listed on Airbnb in NYC. Following that ban, only 2% of those listings have been registered with the city.
Following the crackdown, Inside Airbnb reported that listings fell by 80%.
However, this seems to have only worsened the situation in NYC.
Instead of Airbnb, people are taking to other platforms, like Craigslist, to list their short-term rentals, creating a black market of sorts.
Wired says that the ban has descended “into pure chaos.”
What is the province and city doing?
Last month, we published a story about a report from McGill University that suggested BC renters are paying billions more in rent because of short-term rentals.
We asked provincial and civic leaders about regulations in Vancouver.
ABC Councillor Lenny Zhou, who has been in vocal opposition to illegal short-term rentals, doesn’t think the New York approach is the correct one.
“Such a ban could push STR operations underground without regulation. It will not solve the issue but exacerbate it instead,” Zhou told Urbanized.
Zhou added that Vancouver already has a shortage of hotel rooms and that legal short-term rental operators play a crucial role.
“Banning legal STR will hurt our economy, which will negatively impact residents of Vancouver.”
He also said it’s essential to support the people who follow the rules and use their units as “mortgage helpers.”
Every single unit matters! Each additional illegal STR unit reduces the housing availability for residents. The existing enforcement effort is far from ideal!
With the great support from @KenSimCity & my fellow #TeamABC Councillors, we’re taking this issue seriously! Eager to… https://t.co/EiERz38KMT pic.twitter.com/scdIEJvDRs
— Lenny Zhou 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@LennyNanZhou) October 12, 2023
Earlier this year, the City of Vancouver took one step to help the issue: increasing the short-term rental business licensing fees from $109 to $450.
BC Ministry of Housing plans to take action
In April, we learned from the BC Ministry of Housing that it was looking into ways to regulate the short-term rental market.
We contacted the ministry again to ask about the NYC approach.
BC Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon told Urbanized that it has been watching what other jurisdictions have been doing.
“We will be taking a made-in-BC approach to respond to what we’re all seeing here in the province,” Kahlon told Urbanized.
The ministry told Daily Hive that over 16,000 entire homes are being used as short-term rentals for most of the year.
“This is adding to the challenge renters face to find an affordable place to live.
“We will be introducing legislation to turn more short-term rentals back into homes for people, and we’ll have more to say on that very soon.”
We’ve contacted some experts in NYC for a follow-up to see what we can learn from what went wrong with its approach.
Do you think Vancouver should implement a crackdown on Airbnb like NYC?