Charlottetown council approves rules for short-term rentals

Charlottetown city council approved new regulations for short-term rentals at its regular meeting Monday night.

New zoning and developmentrules will mean any short-term rental must be a primary residence. Owners will not be allowed to have multiple properties, and apartments will not be allowed.

A suite in someone's home would be allowed, but only if the owner lives at home at the time of the rental.

"We've been working on this issue for two and half years. It's been a long road,"said Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown.

The rules will not changeimmediately. Council is looking at a one-year grace period before the amendments come into effect.

The plan has the new rules cominginto effect on March 28, 2023.Councilpassed first reading of approving the one-year grace period and final approval is expected at the councilmeeting in March.

Brown said the extra time will allow operators to decide what they want to do with their properties, and staff to plan licensing requirements and fines for people who don't follow the rules.

"We need to put in place a process for licensing, a process for the registrationand definitely an enforcement mechanism," said Brown.

Some councillorsat Tuesday's meeting felt the issue should be discussed more and brought up the possibility of deferring the vote, suggesting the planning department give another presentation to council members. The motion to defer the vote was defeated and council passed the motion in a 6-2 vote.

Affordable housing advocates happy

Connor Kelly, thetenant network coordinator with the P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing and Cooper Institute,said the new rules are "a win."

It's a step to seeing homes more as homes instead of commodities,he said, adding he was was worried when council was talking about deferring the motion.

"It's nice to see that it passed," said Kelly.

Kelly hopes it will slow down price increases in the housing market.

"The housing market has been very deeply scarred by Airbnbs," he said.

He expects to see more long-term rentals come onto the market, althoughhe doesn't expect them to be that affordable.

Kelly said his group will be pushing council for strong enforcement.

Owners had hoped for grandfathering

Owners had previously expressed hopes thattheir existing properties would be grandfathered in. Under this plan, that will not happen.

At public meetings surrounding short-term rentals, owners had talked about their investment and the importance of short-term rentals for tourism.

At the public meeting in November 2021, Terrie Williams a short-term rentalowner, said her properties create jobs too.

"I employ gardeners, cleaners, grass cutters, all kinds of people," Williamssaid at the public meeting.

At that meeting, Williams said it's important for Charlottetown and other levels of government to develop andfund affordable housing projects,

"We are residents of Charlottetown and wecontribute heavily to the tax base in Charlottetown."

Bob Gray,chair of Charlottetown's advisory committee on affordable housing, said too many homes have become short-term rentals.

"This is a great night for people who want to live in Charlottetown, and can't do it because there just aren't any availabilities,"

He said too many companies own multiple buildings andit will change neighbourhoods for the better. "I think this is really a big thing for Charlottetown," he said.

New regulations will shut downbusiness, says operator

Dave Toombs, who runs eightshort-term rentals in Charlottetown, said the new regulations might make his service "shut down."

Toombs said he and other short-term rentalowners are disappointed with the new regulations.He does not personally believe restricting short-term rentals will solve the housing crisis.

"There was never a problem with affordable housing until the last four or five years," Toombs said. "Up until the last three years, the city was driving to build more places for tourists to stay. That is what we were trying to dobut then two years ago, all of a sudden, we are doing everything wrong."

Toombs said he doesn't believe former short-term rentals will reappear on the rental market in the form of affordable housing.

"We need tourism and we provide the product that people want," he said. "The STRs that they are shutting down are all basically 5-star hotel rooms that are needed in Charlottetown to enable families to stay in the city."

Toombs said the city's new short-term rentalregulation making tourists and owners live under the same roofmaydiscourage tourists.

"Who would do that? Who would go these days to a tourist home? The city is going back in time," he said.

Toombs said he hasn't yet decided if he'll sellsome of his properties.