District of North Vancouver councillors want more data on short-term rental restrictions

District of North Vancouver council members say they need more information before deciding whether to bring in short-term rental rules that are more restrictive than those being imposed by the province.

Council members debated the issue Monday, with the majority voting to ask staff for a further report before deciding on short-term rental restrictions. Coun. Catherine Pope was the lone holdout and called out her council colleagues for stalling on measures that could free up more housing for long-term rental.

Short-term rentals that use platforms like Airbnb and VRBO are currently illegal in the District of North Vancouver. But as both staff and council acknowledge, that hasn’t stopped many owners from running them for many years.

Since council first began discussing the issue, the provincial government has announced minimum province-wide regulations, which include rules restricting short-term rentals to the owner’s principal residence plus one secondary suite or coach house on that property.

Most recently, however, district staff have proposed more restrictive rules that would not allow short-term rentals in vacant secondary suites or coach houses. The goal of that would help ensure those suites are available for needed long-term rental, according to a staff report.

One proposed exception would be if a long-term tenant in a secondary suite wanted to rent the apartment out short-term – defined as anything under 28 days – with the landlord’s permission.

Currently there are 1,104 short-term rentals in the District of North Vancouver, said community planner Holly Adams – up from 832 reported last May.

Most of those properties are entire single-family homes that are being rented out short-term, she added.

New provincial rules will give local governments increased power to levy fines against those breaking short-term rental rules, will require online platforms to share information with the province and will require owners operating Airbnb to join a provincial registry. The province is also setting up an enforcement unit to help local governments crack down on short-term rentals that break the rules.

Requiring that short-term rentals only be offered in a principal residence – and not allowed in vacant coach houses and secondary suites – is an approach that’s already been taken in several other communities, including Vancouver, Victoria, Burnaby, Squamish, Nelson and Kelowna, according to a staff report.

But several councillors said they were leery of that extra restriction.

“I think it’s going a little bit too far,” said Coun. Jordan Back, adding that short-term rentals where owners are living on the property don’t seem to cause problems, compared to situations where entire homes are being rented.

Back added there is also a shortage of hotel rooms in the district.

Coun. Lisa Muri and Herman Mah agreed, with Muri pointing out Vancouver has a significant number of hotels in its downtown core, which is not the case in the District of North Vancouver.

“I’m concerned about the impact on tourism,” said Mah.

He added homeowners are also using income from short-term rentals on their properties to help pay for their mortgages.

Coun. Catherine Pope spoke in favour of greater restrictions on short-term rentals, chastising her council colleagues for being unwilling to move ahead with measures that could free up more long-term rentals in the district.

“When people started Airbnbing, no one knew we would be facing the housing crisis we were in today,” she said, adding if only 300 units of the over 1,100 current short-term rentals began renting to long-term tenants, it would make an impact.

Pope said council already has enough information to decide. “We need to create more housing for people in our community,” she said. “This is one way of doing it.”

“The information is all there,” she said. “I’m just so disappointed we can’t get anything done.”

But Mayor Mike Little said he found the issue complex, especially considering new provincial legislation that will allow three to six dwelling units to be built on existing single-family lots.

The majority of council voted Monday to ask staff for a further report comparing the impact of adopting the province’s short-term rental regulations versus a more restrictive local version.

Staff noted short-term rentals are currently still illegal in the district and will remain that way until council approves new regulations, regardless of provincial changes.