Listen to the people — please

Columnist Ron Seymour said it best on Wednesday when he chastized Kelowna city hall for ignoring public opinion, but it’s worth repeating here.

It appears city planners are thumbing their noses at you— the taxpayer—with their first attempt to regulate and control short-term rentals (ie. AirBnB).

The city’s own public opinion surveys found the majority of people were in favour of shortterm rentals. In fact, it’s not that people don’t care, they actually seem to want them.

The city, as it’s wont to do, may spend thousands on computer software and new staff to police a problem that isn’t there. We dare say this could cost us all dearly in the end.

In the same breath they talk about how much money this city needs for its “infrastructure deficit,” they throw good money after ghosts.

There are thousands of new rental units online, or soon to be, and the vacancy rate is climbing, so the arguement that we need rental stock seems backward and too late.

It would seem these AirBnB rentals don’t impact the rental market in the slightest, either way. We can’t expect Joe Average to suddenly open his doors to the long-term rental market just because the city says so. It seems far more likely anyone’s basement suite or guest house would simply stay empty or be reserved for family — just like the people told city hall in its survey.

Why aren’t they listening? As for city councillors, it’s your job to hold staff to account on this. We can only hope staff actually listens when the public consultation process begins in the new year.

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