Number of Toronto homes being used as tourist rentals has nearly doubled, report says
(The Star Food)

There are as many as 6,500 homes in Toronto being used as short-term tourist rentals rather than full-time residences — a number that has nearly doubled in two years, according to a report released Wednesday by Fairbnb, a group that has pushed for more regulation of short-term rentals by platforms such as Airbnb.The coalition of condo residents and hotel workers wants the province to consider curbing short-term rentals as one avenue for creating more permanent homes in a province and city that is squeezed for housing. Fairbnb says the number of short-term rental listings has grown 25 per cent in Toronto in the past year alone as the Airbnb regulations approved as a bylaw amendment by the city in Dec. 2017 await an August hearing at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT). The appeal was to be heard last summer but was delayed a year when several short-term rental hosts applied for standing there.Neighbourhoods along the waterfront and subway lines are particularly popular spots for tourist rentals. Permanent residents and the coalition say they increase noise, traffic and garbage in those areas and put them at risk of serious crime such as shootings.Up to half of some condo buildings are effectively functioning as “ghost hotels,� says Thorben Wieditz of Fairbnb.He said condo investors see “that it is a lot more profitable to offer a one-bedroom on Airbnb than it is to rent it to a long-term tenant.“There is a lot of money to be made,� he said.The report appeals to Airbnb to act as good corporate citizen and recognize its business is exacerbating the city’s housing shortage.“The data really contradicts Airbnb’s public statements. They always repeat that the majority of our hosts are ordinary people that rent their homes a few times a month for some extra income and that they are sorry for (negative) events. To some extent they are correct. Seventy per cent of their hosts are these ordinary people. It’s ...