The City of Calgary is proposing a slate of new regulations for short-term rentals, including a potential moratorium on new licences dependent on the city’s rental market.
However, city officials noted in a report on the matter that “restricting short-term rentals will not solve the problem of housing affordability on its own.”
The recommended changes come after a two-year study by University of Calgary researchers on the city’s short-term rental market, aimed at collecting data but also to help form a regulatory framework.
According to Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian, the study was driven by ongoing conversations around short-term rentals in 2022, with concerns from the hotel industry, as well as from residents and the rental platforms themselves.
“When other provinces took action to entirely ban short-term rentals, which I think won’t have the desired effect, I think we took a much more nuanced approach,” Mian said during Thursday’s executive committee meeting.
The study found Calgary had a peak of 5,657 active Airbnb/VRBO listings in July 2023, but that figure declined to 4,950 active listings in September 2023. Just 15 per cent of those listings were permanent.
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City administration noted that while short-term rentals “are not a significant issue in Calgary at this time,” the proposed regulations are meant to be “proactive” to ensure short-term rentals “do not become a concern in the future,” following significant growth in the market since 2017.
“Now that we know a little bit more about the landscape and we know this isn’t even one per cent of the total housing in the city, we can rest assured that this won’t make a massive impact on the housing shortage,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek told reporters. “But anything we can do to move the needle a little bit, we can look at.”
Among the list of proposals is a moratorium on issuing business licences on new rentals at non-primary residences when the city’s rental vacancy rate falls below 2.5 per cent. The vacancy rate in Calgary sat at 1.4 per cent in 2023.
According to Mian, the move is meant to clamp down on out-of-market owners that are running “a little hotel” out of a property, with no intention of residing there.
“What the moratorium is saying is that if you live in that house, you can have a short-term rental there anytime,” Mian said. “But if you don’t live there and you’re running a commercial operation, we’re not going to allow you do that when our vacancy rate is low.”
The proposed changes also include the introduction of primary and non-primary residence business licences and new fees.
Those fees include a jump from $172 to $510 for non-primary residences, and $172 for primary residences, up from $100.
The increased costs are concerning to some Airbnb hosts like Tara Crape. She has been hosting guests in her basement suite since 2020.
“I don’t think this is the answer,” she told Global News. “I think they need to take a second look at what they’re proposing and not try and take more out of people’s pockets who are already struggling.”
Other proposed changes include extending the definition of “short-term rental” to cover up to 180 days, while introducing a licence for short-term rental digital platforms at a cost of $3,000.
The proposed bylaw changes will go to city council as a whole for a debate and decision later this month.
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