{"id":7809,"date":"2026-01-26T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/?p=7517027"},"modified":"2026-01-26T16:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:57:08","slug":"kelowna-chamber-pushing-province-to-bring-short-term-rentals-back-asap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/7809\/kelowna-chamber-pushing-province-to-bring-short-term-rentals-back-asap\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelowna Chamber pushing province to bring short-term rentals back asap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

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\u2019t set to happen until Nov. 1. The business organization wants to speed things up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s vacancy rate is 6.4%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of a signature in Victoria,\u201d Kelowna Chamber CEO George Greenwood said in a media release. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKelowna 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\u2019s summer tourists, just because of an arbitrary date on three-year old legislation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenwood wrote to the Minister of Housing Christine Boyle to ask her to consider moving up the exemption date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City council is working with the chamber on speeding up the province\u2019s timeline, and Kelowna-Mission opposition MLA Gavin Dew<\/a> put forward legislation to move up the exemption date, but it hasn\u2019t passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve often been criticized saying, \u2018why don\u2019t you kick and scream and fight and resist?\u2019 And I think, no, we\u2019re much better to work in partnership with our municipal, federal and provincial partners because when opportunities like this come up, that\u2019s what will advance this in my opinion,\u201d councillor Luke Stack told at city council meeting, Jan. 12.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kelowna Chamber CEO is hopeful that Boyle will come to the table to discuss moving up the exemption date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are in discussions with the city, with our members, with some of the providers such as Airbnb \u2013 we know Kelowna has a strong business case, that strata councils are involved, individual owners are involved, developers are involved \u2013 anything we can do to increase the likelihood of helping fill up our restaurants, our sports attractions,\u201d Greenwood said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal is to bring back short-term rentals for units that were designed as Airbnbs, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People in Kelowna aren\u2019t willing to wait for the province\u2019s timeline, according to the business organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Kelowna Chamber is working with members, tourism organizations, the city and its elected MLAs to ensure we\u2019re ready and welcoming as soon as possible,” he said. “We\u2019re not content to wait until November 1 for an automatic exemption.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of a signature in Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":547,"featured_media":7810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1680,541,543],"tags":[],"region":[322,323,324,325],"class_list":["post-7809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/7809\/kelowna-chamber-pushing-province-to-bring-short-term-rentals-back-asap\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Kelowna Chamber pushing province to bring short-term rentals back asap","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/7809\/kelowna-chamber-pushing-province-to-bring-short-term-rentals-back-asap\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/7809\/kelowna-chamber-pushing-province-to-bring-short-term-rentals-back-asap\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-Screenshot-2026-01-26-at-3.25.27-PM.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-Screenshot-2026-01-26-at-3.25.27-PM.png"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jesse Tomas"}],"creator":["Jesse Tomas"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNhome","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-01-27T02:00:00Z","datePublished":"2026-01-27T02:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-01-27T02:00:00Z"},"rendered":"