Kelowna not giving up effort to get short-term rental ban revoked by spring

The City of Kelowna is ready to bring back short-term rentals, but the province’s timeline isn’t so urgent.

Kelowna’s vacancy rate has been above three per cent for a while now. It’s currently above six per cent, which means the city can apply to opt-out of the provincial short-term rental ban. The province is set to review short-term rental ban exemptions in November, but the city doesn’t want to lose Airbnbs for another summer.

City council received a report today, Jan. 12, on efforts to get a short-term rental exemption in time for this summer’s tourist season.

Kelowna is going to apply to get an exemption from the short-term rental ban and try to work with the province to bring them back in time for major events like the Memorial Cup in May and BC Summer Games in July.

“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 council.

Last last year, BC Conservative MLA for Kelowna-Mission Gavin Dew put forward a bill to accelerate approval in time for the summer tourist season, but his proposed amendment to the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act isn’t going through.

“Kelowna asked for a simple, common-sense fix to the NDP’s short-term rental rules. With vacancy at five per cent, we asked them to let us opt out of their rules earlier than November 1 of next year, so we can have a strong tourism season next summer,” Dew said in a press release. “I put three easy pathways on the table to solve the problem. The government rejected every single one.”

Dew’s rejected attempts to expedite short-term rental returns haven’t deterred the city from pushing to bring back them back.

Kelowna had around 700 primary use short-term rental units before the provincial government ban, and if the city gets an early exemption, council said it will start slowly reintroducing short-term rentals, while making sure it doesn’t negatively impact the long-term rental market.

Kelowna city council will review the progress on bringing back short-term rentals in February.