Kelowna Chamber pushing province to bring short-term rentals back asap

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce is pushing to get short-term rentals back in time for big events like the upcoming Memorial Cup.

Kelowna has hit the target needed to bring back short-term rentals. Now the only thing left to do is get provincial approval which isn’t set to happen until Nov. 1. The business organization wants to speed things up.

The Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act came into effect on May 1, 2024. It requires a city to have a vacancy rate above 3% to bring back short-term rentals like Airbnbs. Kelowna’s vacancy rate is 6.4%.

“It’s just a matter of a signature in Victoria,” Kelowna Chamber CEO George Greenwood said in a media release.

“Kelowna has met all the requirements of legislation. Why would the government force local businesses to lose revenue during the May Memorial Cup, and summer events, not to mention business from Kelowna’s summer tourists, just because of an arbitrary date on three-year old legislation?”

Greenwood wrote to the Minister of Housing Christine Boyle to ask her to consider moving up the exemption date.

City council is working with the chamber on speeding up the province’s timeline, and Kelowna-Mission opposition MLA Gavin Dew put forward legislation to move up the exemption date, but it hasn’t passed.

“We’ve often been criticized saying, ‘why don’t you kick and scream and fight and resist?’ And I think, no, we’re much better to work in partnership with our municipal, federal and provincial partners because when opportunities like this come up, that’s what will advance this in my opinion,” councillor Luke Stack told at city council meeting, Jan. 12.

The urgency to bring back more accommodation for tourists comes from upcoming major events like the Memorial Cup, the BC Summer Games and the Touchdown Kelowna BC Lions games.

The Kelowna Chamber CEO is hopeful that Boyle will come to the table to discuss moving up the exemption date.

“We are in discussions with the city, with our members, with some of the providers such as Airbnb – we know Kelowna has a strong business case, that strata councils are involved, individual owners are involved, developers are involved – anything we can do to increase the likelihood of helping fill up our restaurants, our sports attractions,” Greenwood said.

The goal is to bring back short-term rentals for units that were designed as Airbnbs, he said.

“We’re not advocating opening up non-traditional properties in family neighbourhoods to wild west rentals. We are asking the city and the province, very respectfully, to revisit the impact the 2024 legislation has had on properties that were designed from the get-go for short term rentals: mini-suites, many near the waterfront,” he said.

People in Kelowna aren’t willing to wait for the province’s timeline, according to the business organization.

“The Kelowna Chamber is working with members, tourism organizations, the city and its elected MLAs to ensure we’re ready and welcoming as soon as possible,” he said. “We’re not content to wait until November 1 for an automatic exemption.”