Photo: airbnb.ca
The results are in, and it appears the City of Kelowna is ready to make some changes to its short-term rental regulations.
The city’s planning committee, which has been studying the topic for nearly a year, will present its report and guiding principles to council on Monday afternoon. It will recommend changes to the zoning bylaws that will allow more short-term rentals in the city and also require renters to purchase a business licence. Several B.C. cities, including Vancouver and Victoria, require renters to buy a business licence to operate a short-term rental space, which must be their primary residence.
The planning committee will also suggest specifying requirements for parking, signage and other elements that may be associated with a short-term rental. The city would also need to provide for more proactive enforcement if the recommendations lead to regulations.
Short-term rentals, which are usually conducted through companies like Airbnb and VRBO, currently are not allowed in Kelowna’s traditional residential areas, but they happen nonetheless. On Friday afternoon, for example, there were 1,179 active rentals in Kelowna, according to airdna.co, and many were in areas where they are not permitted.
The planning committee also wants to ensure the owners of long-term rental units don’t turn them into short-term ones in an effort to make more money. The city’s vacancy rate is a minuscule 0.2 per cent.
Kelowna’s planning department conducted an online survey about short-term rentals last fall and attracted 2,632 responses. Only 20 per cent reported they had listed a unit for short-term rental in the last 12 months, while 67 per cent had stayed in one in the last year.
Seventy-three per cent strongly agreed that short-term rentals will bring tourist spending to shops and restaurants outside the downtown core, and 72 per cent strongly agreed they will make Kelowna a more appealing tourist destination.
The aspect respondents strongly disagreed with the most was that rentals would create nuisance and safety issues for areas where they are located.
“Renting short-term is a great way for property owners to pay the mortgage on their main residence while adding to the supply of housing options for tourists,” one respondent said.
Respondents believed the top three housing and economic goals the regulation of short-term rentals could achieve were: keeping residential areas and buildings quiet and safe, supporting tourism and allowing residents to earn extra income. The survey takers also believed there should be no time limit on short-term rentals, which is currently set at no longer than 30 days.
“(It should be) 120 nights a year to allow seasonal workers, students and tourists the season they want to be in Kelowna and allow owners enough revenue to make the venture profitable,” one respondent wrote.
Airbnb released a report last month stating Kelowna is the No. 4 Canadian summer destination on its site, trailing only the nation’s three largest cities: Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Once the guiding principles have been heard, regulations will be drafted and stakeholders will be consulted. The final step will be staff policy recommendations.
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