Charlottetown commits to resuming public consultation, regulation on short-term rentals

Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown says the city is hoping to have "something" in place to go to a public consultation process on short-term rental regulations within the next two months.

On Friday council passed the city's operational budget for the 2021/22 fiscal year, which begins on Thursday. Within the budget was an anticipated $120,000 in revenue from short-term rental licences and registrations. 

"If it's not within the next six to eight weeks, we will do it within this year, and we have to do it within this year, because it's not just the the concerned citizens or MLAs that are concerned about STR regulations," Brown told CBC News after the budget was unanimously passed by council.

"It's also neighbourhoods, business people that are into STRs that want ... some kind of conclusion to it. So hopefully it'll be six to eight weeks or just shortly behind beyond that."

Friday's budget also offered a first look at the city's unaudited financials from the 2020/21 fiscal year — the first full year in the pandemic. 

That budget had also originally forecasted $150,000 in revenue from short-term rentals, but the projected final number will be $0, as no process has been put in place.

"We had everything in place to go to public consultation, COVID-19 hit and then that put everything on hold," the mayor said. 

"Now we're one year later. Guess what? We're still in a world pandemic. It's not like it drifted away and now we can open up our public consultation to full participation."

Brown said a public consultation may be split into several sessions in order to accommodate all participants and public health restrictions. In Friday's budget lock-up, city officials said the consultation may be held at the Confederation Centre.

Good news for those in waiting

Both the Short-Term Rental Association and advocates with the Fight For Affordable Housing say this is welcome news.

"We were having discussions with the city about the regulation of short-term rentals and then COVID happened and it kind of got pushed back a bit, being in a closed area. So we're excited about bringing the discussions back and talking about it," said Don MacLean with the STR Association.

MacLean is one of the founders of the group, which represents about 100 owners managing around 200 to 300 properties across the province.

"We're open to regulation. We want to pay these taxes. We want to, you know, pay the levy taxes. We want to create income for the city as well."

Connor Kelly, who is the tenant network coordinator with the P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing, said the group's general reaction was happy that the consultation is happening, but also said that it cannot be delayed any longer.

He said the group still has many questions about the consultation process.

Rather than a roof over your head, it's a return on investment— Connor Kelly, P.E.I. Fight For Affordable Housing

"How are they going to make sure it's accessible to everyone? Can people make submissions over like mail, phone, Zoom," he said, adding that it's also important the draft regulations are shared with the public in advance.

"Just so the public can come into these consultations informed and knowing what exactly they want and don't want in comparison to what the city is thinking.

"That revenue is there and that's factored into their budget, kind of implies that the City of Charlottetown already has its mind made up about how they're going to treat short-term rentals."

Scenario presented last year

A year ago, city staff presented five options for regulating short-term rentals in Charlottetown. 

The study looked at where STRs are in the city, whether they operated year-round or seasonally, their impact on the housing market and the division between commercial operations and casual home sharers.

At the time, the study found that STR listings were growing rapidly in Charlottetown, with a 7.9 per cent increase from 2018 to 2019. 

The report said any of the regulation options would help reduce the vacancy rate in Charlottetown, which hit a record low 0.2 per cent in 2018. 

In Friday's budget speech, Deputy Mayor Jason Coady said the vacancy rate was 2.7 per cent in Oct. 2020, up from 1.3 per cent the previous year.

Kelly said the Fight for Affordable Housing believes that number is currently inflated due to the pandemic, and those housing units will return to the short-term rental market when Island tourism picks up again.

"A lot of people are going to get hit pretty hard with evictions just so Airbnbs can start operating again," said Kelly, who regularly works with tenants being evicted.

"That makes a lot more money for a landlord than it would if they rent it out once a month."

MacLean believes the city's active STR listings are down to about 25 per cent of what was listed in 2019. 

"Those homes are back in the market, just from what I'm seeing and hearing," he said

"If you're a long-term rental, you can't switch it back. I don't think they're coming back."

'Not just short-term rentals'

MacLean agrees that STRs should be examined and regulated by the city, but does not believe they are the sole contributor to the housing crisis.

"I believe that there are a lot of factors that are affecting the shortage or the vacancy rate being lower … the city has to look at a bunch of things, not just short-term rentals," he said.

"The ideal outcome is to be able to offer your home to be able to do what you want … if it's a short-term rental, make sure that you're following all the laws, and regulations and you're registered. That's extremely important that that happens." 

Kelly said it's not surprising if STR owners do not see themselves as part of the housing crisis.

"They probably have a home to live in. They're not the ones looking for a place to live. They don't need an apartment. They have a house," he said.

"Their perspective on housing is coming from a very different direction ... rather than a roof over your head, it's a return on investment."

For the P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing, the goal would be to see the city limit STRs to owner-occupied units, which means the host is renting an apartment unit or room in a home they also live in.

"Right now, people can have like 17 to 20 different houses that are split up into apartments, and they can rent all of those out," he said.

"We'd like to see regulation that limits that."

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