'A very rushed proposal': Stricter short-term rental rules in Calgary spark criticism

Potential rule changes for short-term rentals in Calgary are drawing criticism from the companies that run them.

City council will debate the changes on Tuesday during its last meeting of the year..

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The new regulations would extend the definition of ‘short-term rental’ from 30 days to cover up to 180 days.

It will also require a new business licence with fees to run them.

The initial licence fees would be $172 if it's your primary residence and $510 if it is a non-primary residence, with annual licence renewals about half that amount.

The new bylaws will also create a moratorium on new non-primary residences when the vacancy rate drops below 2.5 per cent and restrict short-term rentals in affordable housing.

If passed, the city would also look to form a short-term rental steering committee as well as exploring a short-term rental property tax subclass for non-primary residences.

Airbnb calls Calgary's proposed rules the most restrictive in the country.

The company told CTV News it agrees with some of the changes, like banning them from social housing, but argues Calgary's vacancy rate is hovering around 1.4 percent, meaning no new non-primary residence rentals could be created due to the moratorium.

"This is a very rushed proposal. These are new rules that would impact the city's economy without giving the intended benefits to the housing crisis," said Alex Howell, the policy lead for Airbnb Canada.

"The proposed bylaw, which council intends to pass with all three readings in a single day, lacks consultation, it lacks community input, and it disregards a lot of the city's own research."

Howell notes the regulations wouldn't help with housing affordability, pointing to the University of Calgary study the city is using to guide them.

"Both the study authors and city officials have stated that there is no real relationship between the number of short-term rentals in the city and impacts on long-term rental prices here in Calgary. I think they've gone so far as to say that short term rentals are a drop in the bucket or a dime in the bucket compared to the number of houses that are actually needed to tackle the housing crisis," she said.

Howell added similar rules in places like Toronto, Vancouver and New York have not curbed rent increases or created availability.

City administration does acknowledge it won't solve the issue, but says the bylaws are proactive in preventing other rental issues, and strike a balance on safety, community impact and enforcement.

According to the U of C study being used by council, there are around 5,000 short-term rentals in Calgary, most of them full dwellings rather than single rooms.

It found only a quarter of the units are considered permanent listings, those which have been available for rent for several years.

The study also found 42 per cent of units were from multi-listing owners.