For some, Airbnb is the bane of the housing market. But renters, owners and advocates say it isn't that simple
On Friday, the Town of Bonavista introduced regulations to slow the growth of short-term rentals
Bethany MacKenzie needs somewhere to live.
After accepting a job as program director at a Port Union art gallery last year, she moved into a coastal home in Bonavista.
But in May, MacKenzie's lease runs out — the home doubles as an Airbnb with stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and is booked through the busy summer tourism season.
"I'm living here in the off-season," Mackenzie explained in an interview with CBC News in February.
MacKenzie said she's been searching for a place to live, without much luck. She said one property owner told her they received more than 20 messages within minutes of posting the listing.
MacKenzie said she expected to have some difficulty finding housing — but not this much.
"I am a young person who's trying to make a career in rural Newfoundland," she said. "I want to be here and I want to work here. But it's really discouraging when you have so many obstacles facing you that are preventing you from doing so."
Last week, MacKenzie said she still hasn't found a place to rent, and will likely stay with friends this summer — but the lack of housing has made her question whether building a life in rural Newfoundland is an option.
"There's so much potential and I'm like, I don't want to miss out on that, but it's hard when it's like, can I get opportunity elsewhere that's going to be a lot easier to afford and to live in?"
Victim of success
Bonavista Mayor John Norman believes housing in his community is in crisis.
"There are businesses that cannot recruit. We have nurses, social workers, teachers that have tried to move into the community in recent years. There's no housing for them," he said.
The town council — including Norman — is pointing the finger at an influx in short-term rentals, the result of a tourism boom going back a decade.
Norman, who has been at the forefront of the Bonavista tourism industry for years, said more than 100 existing homes have been converted into short-term rentals.
"We knew with everything that was going on in Bonavista and the Bonavista Peninsula, this was going to be an issue. We were going to be a victim of our own success," he said.
Bonavista isn't the only municipality grappling with the pros and cons of short-term accommodations. Across the country, provincial and municipal governments have begun regulating short-term rentals. Halifax introduced regulations just over a month ago.
In January, the Town of Bonavista temporarily stopped issuing new permits for new short-term rentals.
On Friday, the town lifted that freeze but introduced regulations to limit the growth of short-term rentals. According to the regulations, no more than 10 per cent of existing homes in the town or on a street can be converted into short-term rentals.
Norman has his own ties to the short-term rentals in Bonavista — he said he's connected with companies that own five. Still, Norman said he doesn't recuse himself from council decisions regarding short-term accommodations.
"I'm one of over 100 players, as is another councillor," he said.
"Council has discussed conflict of interest before and has discussed it in this particular case again, and it has decided that it is such a large cohort that we are such a small percentage of that that it is not a conflict for us to to discuss it," he said.
'It's not really fair'
But the interference with short-term rental accommodations isn't sitting well with some property owners.
After living in Alberta for a decade, Julie Lodge moved back to her hometown in 2017 and decided to open an Airbnb on the Bonavista Peninsula. She rented the property during the tourism season and lived there with her two children during the off season.
"I thought, you know, it was a great way to … have a home," she said. "Being a single parent, I didn't really have a lot of opportunity to be able to buy that for myself. So it seemed like a great idea for me to be able to accomplish that while having someone else help pay for it, essentially."
She said her business has been booming, especially during a surge in staycations during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Without this tourism and without these Airbnbs, I would not be able to support myself, my children. I would have to be back in Alberta, 100 per cent," she said.
Lodge said she understands the struggle of finding housing, but for her, operating a long-term rental property would not be viable — and she's against banning short-term rental properties.
"As long as you're abiding by, you know, bylaws, you're not causing disturbances, it's not really fair that they can tell people, you know, what they can do with their own property."
Changing the fabric
Hope Jamieson, a St. John's housing advocate and former city councillor, said while there's a "substantial" mismatch between rental prices and renter incomes, short-term rentals aren't necessarily to blame.
"Rental markets are really complex and I think this is a really easy and plain thing to point to, to go, 'This is why I can't find an affordable apartment.' There are a lot more layers to it than that," she said.
Overall, she said, there is a correlation between increased rents and high concentrations of Airbnbs — but it's localized.
"You get really high rents in a specific area, which wouldn't be reflected in the sort of overall average rent numbers. But if you look at specific neighbourhoods, it does change the character of the rental market," she said.
For example, as of October, St. John's had a 2.9 per cent vacancy rate — down slightly from the previous year, but still healthy, Jamieson said.
But according to Jamieson, about 170 Airbnbs in St. John's are concentrated in the downtown area — the city's tourism hub.
"It does really change the fabric of neighbourhoods from a social standpoint. It also increases the economic value of land in amenity-rich neighbourhoods like downtown," she said.
Jamieson said data is lacking for more rural areas like Bonavista, but she's seen how short-term rentals can affect housing availability — and, in turn, individuals like MacKenzie — in towns with major tourism sectors.
"Folks who want to come and work in the tourism operations in these areas can't find a place to live, so it's having a substantial impact on just the economic well-being of these communities," she said.
A delicate balance
Jamieson said short-term rental regulations would ideally strike a "delicate balance," taking both the tourism and housing markets into consideration.
Last July, Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism Minister Steve Crocker said regulations governing short-term rentals were in the works and would be revealed within "weeks."
On March 10, in response to a question about the status of the regulations, Tourism Department spokesperson Gina MacArthur said they would "come into effect in the coming weeks."
As of Friday, those regulations haven't been revealed.
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With files from Garrett Barry