Housing economics are very complicated, so it?s easy ? to imagine that we?re playing a role.
CLAIRE BROWNELL
The Vancouver Sun
Don’t blame Airbnb Inc. for soaring housing prices in Vancouver and Toronto.
In an interview Wednesday, Airbnb’s Canadian policy lead Alex Dagg and head of North American public affairs Christopher Nulty laid out their case against scape-goating the short-term rental service for high rents and low vacancies in Canada’s big cities. According to reports based on Airbnb’s internal data, the number of hosts making more money by renting houses and condos through the platform than they could by renting them out the traditional way is minuscule: Just 320 in Vancouver, or 0.11 per cent of the city’s 300,000 housing units.
“Vacancy rates are really low in Vancouver. People are nervous about housing,” Nulty said. “Housing economics are very complicated, so it’s easy for people to imagine that we’re playing a role.”
Not everyone agrees, however. Housing affordability advocates have argued Airbnb listings are putting tourists in houses and apartments that should be occupied long-term by locals, squeezing supply and driving up rental rates.
The City of Vancouver announced plans to regulate short-term home rentals such as those facilitated by Airbnb two weeks ago. Vancouver plans to require homeowners renting properties short-term to obtain business licences and prove what they’re renting are their principal residences.
The proposed regulations are aimed at people who buy houses and condos as investment properties to rent through Airbnb. Studies conducted by Simon Fraser University master’s student Karen Sawatzky and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives have questioned Airbnb’s assertion that such properties make up a tiny minority of listings, finding high percentages of entire homes and apartments for rent through the service in Toronto and Vancouver.
Nulty said there’s an explanation for the discrepancy between Airbnb’s figures and those from outside reports. Airbnb looks at bookings, not just the number of days a unit is listed as available, and recognizes many listings for entire apartments are made by hosts listing their principal residences while they’re away from home.
Why not release the internal data so outside researchers can check the company’s work? As a private company, Nulty said there’s a limit to how much Airbnb will disclose.
“That would be like asking Apple, ‘Can you tell us where you sold every iPhone you sold, at which store?’ ” he said. “We continue to share and want to share more, but we have to share within the confines of what we can do as a private company.”
Municipalities have struggled with how and whether to regulate the service, which challenges how policy-makers think about everything from zoning bylaws to taxation. Airbnb is suing two California cities for imposing regulations the company argues violate a U.S. federal law against holding digital publishers liable for content created by users.
Dagg, Airbnb’s head of Canadian policy, said the company doesn’t file such lawsuits lightly. In fact, she said the company welcomes Vancouver’s decision to regulate, if it’s done the right way.
“We want to be regulated. To be regulated is to be recognized,” she said. “We think there are a lot of good things in their proposal.”
© 2016 Postmedia Network Inc
