Tourism Squamish and the Squamish Chamber of Commerce want the District of Squamish to end restrictions on short-term rentals (STRs) in secondary suites and carriage homes.
Louise Walker, the executive director of Squamish Chamber of Commerce and Lesley Weeks, the executive director of Tourism Squamish, have written a joint letter to the District offering solutions while asking the District to review the restrictions imposed on STRs.
“The details of the regulations create significant administrative and cost barriers to compliance for local hosts, and favour the affluent, while potentially forcing women and other marginalized hosts to choose between their safety and their income,” Walker and Weeks wrote.
Importantly, they say there is no evidence that regulations have met the goal of increasing affordable long-term rentals as intended by the District.
“While some of these hosts may have transferred their units to the LTR market after the regulatory change, some may have chosen to leave them empty or reabsorb them back into their primary home instead. No data currently exists to provide certainty on this question,” they say.
While it is unclear whether the District’s regulations succeeded in increasing long-term rental supply, it is clear that the regulations had a significant negative impact on the tourism industry and on the supply of visitor accommodations in Squamish.
Both occupancy rates and prices of STRs and hotels have increased, they say, adding that reduced inventory could mean visitors may end up choosing other destinations.
Weeks and Walker have given several suggestions to the District on how a more fair and equitable policy would mean better STR options but without compromising long-term housing. The Chamber and Tourism Squamish are willing to work with the District to revise its policy.
“Should the District choose to adapt its regulations to make them more enforceable, accessible, and equitable, Tourism Squamish and the Squamish Chamber of Commerce will also act to support the District’s regulatory framework by creating a training program for potential STR operators, which would support their legal engagement with the industry,” they say.
Read the entire letter here.
