Canadians Concerned about Airbnb’s Impact on Their Communities

Today, the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) released new research highlighting that Canadians from coast to coast have serious reservations about the impact of short-term rentals, like Airbnb, on their communities.

“Canadians clearly disagree with the notion that Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms help create vibrant communities,” said Alana Baker, HAC’s Director of Government Relations. “In fact, only 1% think that platforms like Airbnb have a positive impact on the quality of life in their communities. One in two Canadians would personally feel less safe if short-term rentals were located in their neighbourhood.”

Overall, more than 60% of Canadians are concerned or somewhat concerned about a neighbouring home being regularly rented out through an online short-term rental platform like Airbnb. This concern is shared across the country, with the highest levels coming from respondants in Ontario (69%) and British Columbia (65%). This is driven primarily by the perceived unfavourable impacts on neighbourhood quality of life and on personal safety. Interestingly, these concerns were shared across age groups, including among millennials. Fifty percent of respondents aged 18-34 personally would feel less safe with short-term rentals in their neighbourhood.

“These results demonstrate Canadians’ clear preference for tangible limits on the amount of time that neighbouring homes and condos can be rented out through platforms like Airbnb,” continued Baker. “Nearly one quarter of all Canadians think that homes should never be able to be rented out through platforms like Airbnb, and half think that they should be rented for no more than 30 days per year. People want to know who their neighbours are on a nightly basis.”

This study comes as governments across Canada are considering regulations and licensing requirements for online short-term rental platforms. The Hotel Association of Canada recently released best practices guidelines for such regulations, including platform and host registration, taxation, minimum health and safety requirements, and limits on how frequently homes can be rented.

“Airbnb and similar online short-term rental platforms have an impact beyond the host that rents out a property and the person that stays there,” concluded Baker. “It’s important that regulators and elected representatives consider the effect that these platforms have on the community and its members as they move forward to consider regulations. Canadians have a right to feel safe and comfortable in their neighbourhood, and that should be a priority for governments.”

The Hotel Association of Canada met with Parliamentarians in Ottawa today to highlight the need for sensible, fair rules around short-term rental platforms, including taxation and platform regulation. The study, conducted by Nanos Research between August 25^th to 27^th, was a hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,000 Canadians, 18 years of age or older. The margin of error is +/-3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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