Council moves to regulate short-term rentals like Airbnb

Windsorstar.com
October 21, 2020
Brian Cross

Putting “ghost hotels” out of business is one of the aims of a new draft bylaw that will regulate short-term rentals like Airbnbs, says Windsor city Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac.

“Everything is coming together on this,” the Ward 6 councillor said this week after council ordered administration to prepare an STR bylaw that would mirror the City of Vaughan’s.

The bylaw would mean operators would be required to get a city licence, submit to a police background check, provide $2 million in liability insurance, comply with the building and fire code, allow inspectors inside to check if the unit is safe and provide proof the property is their primary residence.

So people can rent out a granny suite or an apartment above the garage, but can’t buy up properties throughout the city and create a mini empire of short-term rentals -- a common way to make money in other cities that Gignac feared was also happening here.

“We were starting to hear there were operators who were buying up a number of residences and opening them up for short-term stays and not living there,” she said, suggesting that these types of units are where problems arise such as complaints about parties and unkempt properties. She called them “ghost hotels” -- units where the owner is not on site. Administration reported stories of some property owners operating up to a dozen properties.

These “ghost hotel” units also remove residential properties from the inventory of potential long-term rental units at a time when local families are desperately in need of affordable housing, Gignac added. She said regulating STRs will also give the city a registry of all the units in the city. A report on the draft bylaw -- expected to come back to council early in the new year -- will also include an analysis on whether fees charged for licensing should fully pay the cost of this new regime.

“We know these (STRs) are operating,” Gignac said. “Our main focus has to be ensuring they are safe.”

But in a statement, Airbnb Canadian public policy manager Nathan Rotman called Windsor’s move “a regressive and redundant approach to regulating home sharing.”

He said Windsor’s draft bylaw will have negative impacts on the local tourism economy as well as local hosts.

Regulating STRs was put on the back burner for several years while the city awaited the result of a possible precedent-setting appeal of the City of Toronto’s bylaw. The matter was recently resolved and Toronto is moving forward with regulations that effectively outlaw ghost hotels.

In a survey to gauge the opinion of Windsor residents, 88 per cent said homeowners should be allowed to rent out units in their primary residence. Only 34 per cent said property owners should be allowed to rent out STRs. That same survey showed most people didn’t have concerns about STRs making neighbourhoods unsafe, or contributing to noise problems, property damage and on-street parking problems. Seventy-two per cent agreed that STRs make Windsor a more appealing tourist destination, 74 per cent said they bring tourist spending to neighbourhood shops and restaurants, and 61 per cent agreed they’re an important source of income for residents.

The administration report lists the regulations for eight other municipalities. Most only allow units to be rented in a primary residence, but have other requirements such as providing parking, limiting stays to 30 days and limiting the total number of days a unit is rented to 180 per year.

Speaking to council Monday, Airbnb operator Ray Quenneville said he was leaning towards the Vaughan bylaw, though he suggested council create a two-licence system: one for primary residence operators and a second for non-primary residence operators. He has a single private self-contained suite in his Arthur Avenue home, complete with a kitchenette, separate bathroom, table for two and patio. He asked council not to limit stays to 30 days.

His last two guests, he said, stayed seven and five weeks, as they completed job relocations and looked for homes in Windsor.

“We have to respect Windsor with its size and not compare it to Toronto or Chicago. Our guests have different travelling needs,” he said.

He said STRs can help the city flourish as a travel destination.

“Windsor can be that hub for Canadian travellers wanting to stay in our city and do a day trip to Detroit, another day trip to our wine countryside,” said Quenneville. “All the while, still spending money in our city of Windsor.”