The decision on early exemption for short-term rentals in Kelowna could be coming sooner rather than later.
A week after B.C. Premier David Eby was in Kelowna, saying an announcement is coming soon, Vancouver-Little Mountain MLA and Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Christine Boyle doubled down in Victoria on Thursday, April 16.
“For this year, the only local government that formally requested a change is Kelowna,” Boyle told reporters. “We’re having productive conversations with Kelowna mayor and council and I look forward to being able to say more soon on that.”
Boyle explained that municipal governments have requirements to meet in order to request a chance. One of them is achieving a specific healthy vacancy rate for two consecutive years.
“Kelowna has had a very healthy vacancy rate because of the good work they have being doing on housing, that allows us to have a conversation of next steps,” she added.
Last December, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released its annual rental market report. Amongst the figures, it was shown that Kelowna had one of the largest vacancy rates in Canada.
On April 8, during his visit in the Central Okanagan, Eby said that Kelowna’s soaring vacancy rates have allowed to province to enter into discussions on providing an exemption to the short-term rental accommodations act, which restricts short-term rentals operations to a person’s primary residence.
Wanting local businesses to capitalize on a series of summer events coming to town – including the Memorial Cup and a pair of BC Lions games – Kelowna’s council has pushed for an exemption to be granted by the spring or summer, rather than the provincial government’s timeline of November.
“We recognize that (the November timeline) is not helpful for the summer tourist season, so we look forward to having more to say about this soon, but we are working closely with the city to try to find a way to provide additional tourist accommodation for the most important summer months here,” Eby said on April 8.
Boyle confirmed that on Thursday, saying “Kelowna has a clear timeline they have put before us.”
– with files from Ty Lim