A different view of short-term rentals

I was grateful to see that the first sentence in Stacy and Richard Toms’ opinion piece published in The Guardian on Nov. 24 clearly labelled Airbnbs as a problem. I was genuinely puzzled by the headline indicating that the positive side of short-term rentals is rarely discussed because, at every meeting I have ever attended where short-term rental entrepreneurs are present, the positive impact on the tourism industry and the ability of the entrepreneur to make money off their investment and even employ others has been clearly stated, multiple times.

Words like vilify, monopoly, small-business owner, scapegoat, dilemma and discourage tend to stir up emotions in those that read them, creating a really specific picture from one point of view. You invested in the property to help fund your retirement which, from my perspective of a non-pension earning, often self-employed individual on the wrong side of 50, good for you! Yet, like my own RRSPs, there is no guarantee on a return in that investment.

Here is a different picture from my perspective. I arrived in 2009 and rented an all-inclusive, three-bedroom furnished apartment in a residential neighbourhood near downtown Charlottetown for $1,600 a month that allowed pets in a city with a vacancy rate comfortably at 3.4 per cent. Those who appeared to spend their days on the street often had a place to live. I still live in the same neighbourhood. The vacancy rate is zero per cent. There are more visible homeless people, and many I know are scared of being “renovicted” and having to leave their neighbourhood and school zone, which some have had to do. For families with pets, this is an especially vulnerable position to be in.

When I moved into the neighbourhood, within two blocks were two other shortterm rentals — well maintained with owners that were on-site or nearby. Now, when I walk my dog, I can pass 13 shortterm rentals in a three- or fourblock radius of where I live (a residential neighbourhood). At the same time that these businesses are flourishing, residents are struggling to find housing — the houses and condos and apartments are still there but the priority is given to transient tourists instead of citizens.

Full disclosure: I am all for owner-occupied short-term rentals, and those who have invested in small bed and breakfasts, density, large rental increases due to supply and demand, and urban planning that puts vulnerable citizens near the services they need are my concerns.

Recently, the City of Toronto won a ruling in favour of its short-term rental bylaws that had been challenged by the larger short-term rental businesses that had financial means to mount a complaint.

Adjudicator Scott Tousaw wrote this in the ruling: “One fact is indisputable: each dedicated short-term rental unit displaces one permanent household. That household must find another place to live.”