A 2.8 per cent vacancy rate — just 0.2 per cent shy of targets set by the province — is not enough to get Prince George, B.C., out of new short-term rental rules coming into effect later this year.
City council for the north-central B.C. municipality, home to about 77,000 people, had applied for an exemption from the restrictions, which will limit short-term rentals, such as those offered by Airbnb and VRBO, to properties on which the host also resides.
But in a letter, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said although the city came close to meeting the requirements for an exemption, it still fell short and will have to wait until 2025 to try again.
“It is important that we prioritize the goal of housing to the long-term housing market in communities where there are rental housing shortages,” he said in the correspondence dated March 18, and included in the city’s upcoming council agenda package.
The Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act has been a highly-publicized — and, in some places, hotly-contested — portion of the province’s attempts to improve access to housing in B.C.
Starting May 1, the legislation will mean property owners in most B.C. municipalities will no longer be able to rent out secondary homes, apartments or other properties to tourists or short-term visitors. Instead, short-term rentals will be limited to rooms, suites, or laneway homes on the property where the host also resides.
The rules apply to any city with more than 10,000 people, with the exception of resort and mountain communities. Local governments can opt out if their community had a rental vacancy rate of three per cent or more, for two years in a row, as measured by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
As of March 14, the province said it had received opt-out requests from four communities that met the three per cent threshold: Fort St. John, West Kelowna, Dawson Creek and Pouce Coupe (meanwhile Tofino, which is exempt from the rules, has asked to be included).
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While some communities are trying to opt out of the province’s upcoming short-term rental restrictions, Tofino, on Vancouver Island, wants in. As a small tourist town, it is exempt from the provincial rules, but has sent a request to opt in to the program. Mayor Dan Law explains why.
While Prince George had a vacancy rate of 3.7 per cent in 2022, data from 2023 indicated that rate had dropped to 2.8 per cent.
However, many councillors in the city weren’t convinced the numbers were accurate or meaningful.
“Why three per cent?” Coun. Kyle Sampson asked during a February meeting discussing the rules. “Why not an average over a number of years?”
Coun. Cori Ramsay said she had found places in the data where the CMHC wasn’t reflecting reality on the ground.
That included the vacancy rates for three-bedroom homes and row housing, which were not included in the CMHC report because not enough information was available to be statistically reliable.
Ramsay said she believed if those units were factored in, the vacancy rate would rise above three per cent.
But Kahlon disagreed. In his letter, he noted that the data quality reported by CMHC for Prince George had a quality rating of “very good,” which, he said, “makes the vacancy rate statistically reliable.”
He also took note of council’s concerns that visiting professionals, such as doctors or nurses, relied on short-term rentals in order to stay in the community, writing “short-term rentals can still occur in people’s principal residences, including up to one suite or accessory dwelling unit, and we may well see growth in this type of accommodation.”
The letter is included in the correspondence section for the Prince George city council meeting scheduled for March 25 and it will be up to mayor and council whether it is pulled for discussion.
