Councillors in Gibsons are hearing a lot of different views on the impact of short-term rentals on the overall rental market and the community.
Airbnb operator Ken Hughes appeared before council at its Nov. 7 committee meeting, where he said short-term rentals through Airbnb and similar sites like VRBO are bringing tangible benefits.
Hughes said “vacation hosting,” as he calls it, is nothing new on the Sunshine Coast, it’s just being done in new ways.
He estimates there are around 40 Airbnb hosts in Gibsons and closer to 100 when other platforms are taken into account.
“It’s a great mom and pop small business,” he said.
Using numbers provided to him by Airbnb, Hughes estimated that nightly rentals bring about $1 million a year into the town and another $2.5 to $3 million in spending by the guests.
Hughes also rejected the notion that there’s a serious impact on long-term rentals. “By and large these are homes or properties that are already in use part of the year, so they’re not available to the long-term rental community,” he said.
A similar argument was made during a Nov. 14 community dialogue session on affordable housing and short-term rentals. A short-term rental owner said they bring tourists into town in a “low impact way” while allowing people to make a little extra money from suites or rooms they would otherwise only use for visiting friends and family.
Housing advocate Lee Ann Johnson, a former councillor, offered some statistics comparing the long-term and short-term rental availability on the Coast.
She said looking just at listings on Craigslist and Airbnb, she found only five studio apartment vacancies for long-term rental and 36 for short-term stays. The contrasts were similar for one, two or three-plus bedrooms. She also said while the affordability target for a single person earning the median income is $733 per month, the average rent being asked for a one-bedroom unit is over $900.
Councillors heard a bit of the negative aspect of short-term rentals from Sunshine Coast RCMP detachment commander Vishal Mathura during his regular update on Nov. 7.
Mathura said RCMP have noticed a 90 per cent jump in bylaw calls from last year, particularly noise infractions.
“Of note is that we had issues with multiple Airbnb properties… They were renting out large properties to eight or nine people at a time and they were partying and generating a lot of noise,” he said.
Back in September, a resident came to council to say he felt like he was “being held hostage” in his own home because of noisy guests at a multi-room, short-term rental, and called for tighter restrictions.
The Town requires business licences for short-term rentals, treating them as home-based businesses, and the owner is expected to live on the premises.
The Town is, however, also looking at other regulatory options.
