Airbnb regulation already on the books in Fredericton, but enforcement unclear

The City of Fredericton has rules on the books about short-term rentals, but whether they're being followed by landlords or enforced by the city is unclear.

According to the city's zoning bylaw regulations, a dwelling unit or room in a building with residential zoning can be rented out for periods of less than 28 days, so long as the owner lives in the same building.

The regulation also dictates no more than three rooms in a single detached dwelling can be used for short-term rental.

However, it's unclear whether the regulation is being followed or if the city is enforcing it.

The city's chief planner told Mayor Kate Rogers this week that staff could "probably better communicate" what the regulation dictates.

"I think council needs a better understanding of what those regulations are," said Ken Forrest, planning and operations director. "We probably have to do some better public explanation of what those rules are as well."

CBC News asked for a followup interview with Forrest about how the city is enforcing the regulation.

But Shasta Stairs instead sent an email saying the bylaw regulation is enforced the same way all other bylaws are enforced.

"If we receive a complaint, we investigate it," she said.

Forrest's comments came in response to a question by Rogers during the city's economic vitality committee meeting on Thursday.

Rogers asked Forrest how the regulation was being managed by city staff amid concerns that units used previously for long-term rental housing are now being rented out on a short-term basis with the rise of digital platforms such as Airbnb.

"We are now hearing from students that they're being displaced from their apartments because of short-term rentals," Rogers said.

"We're hearing of developers who, in their buildings, are dedicating so many of their units to short-term rentals … so it really is impacting housing stock."

Rogers noted that currently, the city doesn't formally know which homes or buildings are being used for short-term rentals, and she floated the idea of the city creating a registry to keep track of them.

Online platforms like Airbnb allow buildings owners to easily rent out entire homes, apartment units, or just rooms to others, typically for periods of a few days to a few weeks.

But they've also drawn criticism from advocates and renters about the impact they say it's having on housing availability and affordability.

Halifax councillors in February agreed to implement largely the same regulation that Fredericton already had since 2021.

It comes into effect in September and will allow owners of residential-zoned buildings to host short-term tenants so long as it's the owner's primary residence.

Enforcing rules would help, advocate says

Fredericton has grappled in recent years with historically low vacancy rates for rental housing, with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation pegging it at 2.2 per cent as of last October.

That housing crunch has prompted the City of Fredericton to study the issue of supply and affordability, and last year adopted an affordable housing strategy to address it.

An easy step to improving the city's housing struggles would be to enforce the regulation it already has in place, said Matthew Hayes, advocate for the New Brunswick Coalition for Tenants' Rights.

Hayes points to data available on short-term rental consulting firm Airdna's website, showing the city has 174 active short-term rental listings.

Of those, 131 are listings for "entire homes," which include individual units within a home, as well as actual entire homes.

With a total of 9,547 rental units in Fredericton, Hayes said it might not seem like much, but returning even some of those listings back to long-term rentals would offer needed relief to Fredericton's housing pressures.

"If we're talking about fast ways of expanding affordable housing supply, there's no faster way of expanding the affordable housing supply than returning those entire units onto the long-term market," Hayes said.

"My sense is that the city doesn't want to enforce [the regulation]," Hayes said.

"And they should absolutely be enforcing it. We're in the midst of a housing crisis."