Toronto moves towards reining in Airbnb-style rentals

Following in the footsteps of cities like Vancouver and New York, Toronto city council is taking its first step towardregulating short-term rentals like Airbnb.

• Condo owners call on city to rein in Airbnb
• Airbnb says Toronto should regulate 'professional' renters

Next week, council's executive committee will review a report on short-term rentals, kicking off a process of consultations and research with city stakeholders that will begin in 2017.

That's what Thorben Wieditz and the othermembers of a coalition of hotel workers and housing advocates called Fairbnb havebeen pushing for since they formed over the summer.

"What we hear from city councillors and residents is that Airbnb impacts everyone," Wieditz said in an interview.

"We have to establish a fair marketplace. Every business has to play by the rules."

Looking to other cities

Wieditz said Vancouver could serve as a source of inspiration to Toronto lawmakers when it comes to regulating the practice.

Last month, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson unveiled a plan that would only allow rentals lasting fewer than 30 days to happen in a home that's also someone'sprincipal residence.

That rule would take a bite out of professional renterswho rent out units short-term instead of putting them up for traditional leases, which has been blamed forshrinking the long-term rental market.

"Thirteen per cent of hosts actually generate close to 40 per centof the revenue for Airbnb, so there is a growing concentration of commercial hosts [in Toronto]," said Wieditz, who hopes more rules would lead to more affordable housing in the city.

Fairbnb also wants to see the regulations adopted by the city go beyond rules for hosts and extend to the home-sharing platforms themselves.

"This would require Airbnb and others to monitor their listings and enforce city regulations, something that has been done in San Francisco and Santa Monica," said Wieditz.

Airbnb says they will play ball

Airbnb Canada's public policy manager Alexandra Dagg told CBC that her company would also welcome more regulation.

"We want to be the best practices leader for home sharing. That's why we are leading the way with the city, and the city councillors," she said.

Dagg also acknowledged the professional renter problem.

• New Airbnb rules could shut down 1,000 short-term listings in Vancouver, says mayor

"If there are professional operators sharing multiple units on our platform, there should be regulations designed to deal with that," she said.