City of Waterloo limits short-term rentals in low-rise homes in effort to increase affordable housing
City council wants to add more long-term rentals and address neighbourhood disruptions
If you plan to spend a couple nights in Waterloo, an Airbnb or other short-term rental might soon be hard to find.
Changes approved by city council mean that if you want to rent out your unit short-term, you'll have to live there.
This only applies to low-rise units and is aimed at boosting the number of long-term rentals in the city.
"These changes were driven by the city's overall strategy on increasing affordable housing," said Greg Curlew, the city of Waterloo's licensing manager.
The changes are a temporary measure that will allow the city to gather data on the benefits of short-term rental enforcement.
Curlew says the restrictions were put in place after city staff received feedback from the public about the impacts of short-term rentals. Members of the public focused on the potential disruptions to neighbourhoods and the effect short-term rentals have on long-term housing availability.
While he acknowledges that restrictions could affect tourism, Curlew says he does not believe the impact will be significant.
"We did look at hotel occupancy data, and we believe there is still room for them to absorb some of the changes," he said.
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Approximately 500 short-term rentals operate in Waterloo. The city estimates that 100 will become available to be converted to long-term rentals or returned to the overall housing stock.
That number could grow to 250 if mid-rise and high-rise units were included in the restrictions.
"What we'd really like to see is a reduction in the number of short-term rentals that are operating in total," Curlew said. "Moving short-term rentals back into long-term rental situations," he added.
Toronto, London and Hamilton have already placed the same restrictions on short-term rentals. The city of Kitchener says it's exploring options for licensing them.
In an email to CBC Kitchener Waterloo, Alex Howell, policy lead for Airbnb Canada, said the restrictions will have little effect on housing availability.
"Evidence continues to show that short-term rentals have no significant impact on the availability or affordability of homes in the vast majority of communities, including Waterloo. In fact, the vast majority of hosts in Waterloo share just a single home, typically on an occasional basis as a way to supplement their income amid a country-wide affordability crisis," Howell said in the statement.
In November 2024, Kitchener and Waterloo consulted with short-term rental operators about possible regulations. Curfew says the response was mixed.
"I think most of them were supportive of some licensing requirements to ensure safety, but typically, they would've preferred not having restrictions on only being able to rent an owner-occupied unit," he said.
While the temporary restrictions are in place, Curlew says the city of Waterloo will continue public consultations to assess their effectiveness.
"The key indicator will be looking at the current number of short-term rentals in the city and seeing how these new requirements reduce that overall number," he said.
"We're prioritizing long-term housing over the impacts to some of the availability of short-term stays."
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