Vancouver rules for short-term rentals to ease city’s vacancy rate: mayor
VANCOUVER — The city of Vancouver is moving to legalize short-term rental accommodation like Airbnb but operators will only be able to advertise their principal residence.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said Wednesday that new regulations to be enacted next week are designed to protect and free up rental housing in response to a critically low vacancy rate.
“The goal of the city is to restore some of our long-term rental and take a balanced approach, making sure we are protecting rental stock at the same time that we’re enabling supplemental income for people who are using Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms,” he said.
There are roughly 6,600 short-term rentals posted online, and more than 80 per cent will remain legal under the program, city officials said.