Burlington Council Approves Staff Direction to Review Developing Short-Term Accommodation Bylaw Compliance/Licensing Program

At our April 18 Burlington City Council meeting, we approved a motion memo from Councillors Shawna Stolte and Kelvin Galbraith directing staff to develop and implement a city-wide short-term accommodation (STA) compliance/licensing program.The full staff direction is below and click/tap here for the motion memo: CPRM-03-23 Motion Memo- STA by-law compliance program

• Direct the Executive Director of Community Planning Regulation and Mobility and the Director of By-Law Compliance to work with departmental and legal services staff to undertake a review by Q4 2023 of the framework/policy of zoning, business licensing and resourcing requirements for the development and implementation of a City-wide Short-Term Accommodation (STA) compliance/licensing program (SD-20-23); and
• Direct the City Manager and Chief Financial Officer to work with departmental and legal services staff to fund additional research on municipal leading practices and other supports as may be identified (SD-21-23); and
• Direct the Executive Director of Community Planning Regulation and Mobility and the Director of By-Law Compliance in the undertaking of the development of the STA by-law program, include the following elements:
  • Research on leading GTHA and other municipal practices related to STA by-laws, regulations, compliance and licensing regimes;
  • Establish a Community Task Force to assist in the development of options and recommendations for a ‘Made in Burlington” STA by-law, compliance and licensing regime;
  • Identify potential zoning requirements through Comprehensive Zoning By-law Review; and
  • Identify any ongoing resource requirements in the multiyear 2024-2028 budget forecast (SD-22-23); and
• Direct the City Manager and Chief Financial Officer, in conjunction with the establishment of the governance structure of the new Innovation and Digital Transformation Reserve Fund, to identify as a 2023 workplan priority, the allocation of dedicated project funds towards advancing process change and technology improvement related to the STA regulation, compliance and licensing regime with any additional impacts to AMANDA and the administrative penalty system (APS) (SD-23-23); and
• Subject to Council consideration and approval of the above, direct the Director of the By-law Compliance to integrate the above work into the 2023/24 workplan of the department based on a target date for implementation of Q3 2024 for the STA framework, and report back to Council with a prioritized list of Staff Directions that have been directed toward the department through the 2024 budget process (SD-24-23).

 MY TAKE:Thank you to Councillors Stolte and Galbraith for bringing this staff direction motion forward, particularly through the licensing piece. We understand the frustration from the community. Short-term accommodations (STAs) have the potential to impact housing and I know some municipalities in rural areas who describe dark streets in some of their neighbourhoods where you don’t have anyone living in the homes there, as they have been converted to STAs. There are learnings from other municipalities we can take — some have limited days of when the renting can occur, etc.I look forward to the upcoming community engagement piece and engaging with those who own and operate AirBnBs in our city.

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Background:The housing market throughout Ontario has been very competitive with increased market pricing. The housing market has forced homeowners to seek other avenues to draw additional revenue/income to assist them with home ownership. STA’s provide homeowners the ability to leverage their property for additional revenue from short-term rentals. The internal review of this matter will be broad, including but not limited to the following items

• Overall, it is apparent that short-term accommodations are a multifaceted matter and raise issues that need further exploration;
• Key aspects of the staff research and jurisdictional scan will focus on the evolution and challenges/opportunities of this new market;
• Trends observed in other cities shows a very dynamic market, with high turnover in terms of both STA units and their operators. The consensus among policy-makers is that the STA matter is complex and difficult to regulate;
• Key objective for this review is to improve neighbourhood fit by ensuring personal accountability for the dwelling unit and STA’s and
• To protect the long-term rental housing market by prohibiting STA’s as investment properties and limiting the STA use of secondary dwelling units.