Minimal appetite to regulate services like Airbnb around Metro Vancouver

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – As Vancouver outlines its plans to regulate Airbnb, we’re looking at other parts of Metro Vancouver to see what they’re planning.

The question is, do other cities plan to follow Vancouver’s lead? The position varies.

In Richmond, Mayor Malcolm Brodie says his city is monitoring the effects of services like Airbnb and says at this point most of the concern has been around neighbourhood disruptions by short-term renters.

“We are getting regular complaints relating to Airbnb and to the short terms rentals to the point that we have to study the matter further and see where we need to go.”

Elsewhere, staff for Surrey, West Vancouver, and the District of North Vancouver all tell me people haven’t been very active in complaining about the service and regulating it is not a priority.

White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin says he’s not aware of a single complaint made to his city hall. He says people in his community just don’t seem to have a problem with so-called home sharing.

“No, we haven’t received any complaints to date. I think that mostly the complaints at issue as a result of the hotels feeling the pinch, and we only have one hotel and it’s fully booked so it’s not been an issue for them.”

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