Damian Inwood
Province
A staff recommendation for a new bylaw, which restricts the way people can rent out two or more rooms to Olympic spectators, got unanimous approval from the city’s standing committee on services and budgets yesterday. Photograph by: Les Bazso, The Province
Vancouver residents seeking “windfall profits” from legally renting out their homes during the 2010 Olympics will need to cough up $106 for a business licence.
And after June 1, no one will be able to take part if they evict their tenants with a view to cashing in on Olympic gold.
But Olympic housing activist Am Johal dubbed the new bylaw as “inadequate” and said it would do little to stop greedy landlords from kicking out long-term tenants in favour of well-heeled tourists.
“It’s like pitching a tent in the middle of a tornado,” Johal jeered. “It’s a nice gesture, but it’s highly ineffective.”
A staff recommendation for a new bylaw, which restricts the way people can rent out two or more rooms to Olympic spectators, got unanimous approval from the city’s standing committee on services and budgets yesterday.
The committee heard from seven speakers, both for and against the bylaw, which allows fines of up to $2,000 for offenders.
The committee added more teeth to city planning recommendations, moving up the date that rooms must be tenant-free to June 1 from Sept. 1.
While Johal, spokesman for the Impact on Communities Coalition, was happy with that change, he predicted there will still be 1,000 evictions in the city directly related to Olympic renters.
He said offending property owners could still make thousands of dollars, even after paying the fines.
Johal predicted that landlords will get around the bylaw by evicting tenants by June 1, leasing their properties for six months and then cashing in on big bucks during January and February.
He said councillors had “reinforced the idea that tenants are second-class citizens in the city.”
City planner Celine Mauboles said a quick search of Craigslist shows that homes are being offered from a couple of hundred dollars a night to $20,000 for an entire East Vancouver house for the whole of February.
Mauboles‘ report predicted that up to 1,000 people would pay for a licence to rent their homes.
Tourism Vancouver‘s 2010 expert, Walt Judas, welcomed the bylaw and said that Olympic ticket-holders are already calling and complaining they can’t find anywhere to stay.
“What we want to avoid are two headlines that will negatively affect our reputation, no matter how good the actual competition and Games are,” he said. “These headlines are ‘No Vacancy’ and, ‘Gouging.'”
He said people don’t want to be staying in Chilliwack and travelling to watch speed skating at the Richmond Oval.
The recommendation calls for the B.C. government to amend the Vancouver Charter to allow for $10,000 fines to homeowners who break the rental bylaw.
But, due to the provincial election, councillors were told, there’s unlikely to be a legislative session until later in the fall.
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