New coalition, Fairbnb, calls on Toronto council to regulate Airbnb
A national coalition named Fairbnb that launched last week in Toronto are planning to call on city councillors to regulate short-term rentals in the city. The organization is not looking for Toronto to ban Airbnb altogether, says chairwoman Lis Pimentel. They say that they don’t fault regular people who are using the service to help pay their bills or help visitors looking for a reasonably priced place to stay.
Instead, the coalition hopes that Canadian cities will put regulations in place that take aim at hosts who are renting out entire homes for long periods of time, many of whom are renting out several properties at once. This is not only creating ghost hotels but also taking much needed rental properties off the market, a huge factor that contributes to the city’s affordable housing crisis. Other criticisms of Airbnb include safety and security issues, impact on hotel industry jobs along with lost tax revenue.
According to this article from CBC, Donna Borden, a board member of the anti-poverty activist group ACORN, says "There's nowhere for people for live. We just think that this takes away from affordable housing in Toronto." Borden also says that property owners may make more money by listing their properties on Airbnb and charging people daily rent than having stable monthly tenants.
The coalition is made up of several groups from around the city, including affordable housing advocates, property owners, union representatives and hotel industry workers. It’s expected that others across the country will follow suit and advocate for regulations in their cities, though for now the coalition is planning to tackle the issues they feel are having a negative impact in Toronto right now.