Dear Editor:
Is the regulation of stand-alone short-term rentals (STRs) such as Airbnbs or VRBOs the solution to Hinton’s availability of housing or affordability crisis? Private property rights are after all a corner stone of a good democracy and shouldn’t be denied or restricted without a good reason. And as a practical matter, when you make owning property less attractive, you shouldn’t expect to get more of it.
The Town is proposing to cap the number of stand-alone STRs (currently at 127), increase their fines for non-compliance by over 500%, hire an identification service with tax dollars ($9,300), in addition to the already high business licence fee of $1500 (versus $150 for other businesses). Apparently the theory is that they shouldn’t rent their property at too high a profit, they can afford to pay extra fees and fines. Which isn’t very nice, since they invested in it believing they could pursue a legal business opportunity with it. And it probably won’t work.
Only a very small portion of our current short-term rental stock, probably less than 1%, could be reasonably called an affordable housing rental or home. A study by the Conference Board of Canada suggests that the presence of STRs has not led to a significant increase in rents. And what impact will it have on our economy including tourism if we deliberately make it harder for people to visit Hinton?
The main source of our housing problem seems to be the large inflow of new Albertans, 200,000 per year in 2023 and about 50,000 in the last few months. And while they mostly go to big cities, Hinton has had a number of significant announcements recently, from Mondi Pulp and CN rail, both of which may affect our growth and housing stock. And when even a smaller store opens up in Hinton it typically brings anywhere from 6 to 12 employees with it and their families. But if we make it clear that we’re hostile to property owners, will it help them or anyone else get good accommodation at a fair price?
Points to consider when we regulate STRs are:
- STRs are widely used by folks who don’t want to use hotels – they want private, personalized and unique accommodation. The average rental rate for a STR in Hinton is $248 per night which offers an attractive alternative to Jasper’s rates, and many people won’t travel to Hinton if they can’t stay in a STR, costing us hundreds of dollars per night in lost food, dining, operating costs and other tourist dollars not coming to Hinton. The result won’t be more prosperity but less, a potential loss annually of millions of dollars to our local economy and of the related jobs that let people afford better homes;
- It may be overly optimistic to assume these STRs will seamlessly transition into long term housing stock if capped or limited, rather than continuing to operate illegally and escaping all regulation;
- - The nuisance factors (character, noise, garbage parking and privacy) related to STRs aren’t obviously worse than other forms of accommodations and can be mitigated in other ways. In fact most owners of STRs go to considerable lengths to avoid problem clients as they don’t want their investments damaged;
- Is competition of STRs with hotels a legitimate town council concern as suggested by Town Administration on August 27? Surely the town would not and should not step in if, say, burger joints were competing with pizza parlours, and hotels aren’t entitled to a captive clientele;
- While it’s true that hotels pay business property taxes and STRs pay residential property taxes, we generally don’t tax home-based business as heavily. So unless STRs use more town services than if they were occupied by a regular family on a long-term basis they shouldn’t pay business rates; and
- This market place is to certain extent self-regulating including offering lower rates outside peak tourist season. The Jasper fire and COVID have both heavily affected these and other businesses in Hinton in recent years. And the heavy investment it takes to buy a house requires a steady flow of income to be sustainable. In fact some STRs do provide longer term accommodation in the winter months and also to Jasper evacuees. And overall, if they were not providing something that people valued, they couldn’t operate at all so who are we to say they and their customers don’t count because we want their stuff for our purposes?
Should we continue to recognize STRs for what they are – a vacation option paid for by private entrepreneurs that brings investment, tourists, jobs and dollars to town? And should we try to address the housing crisis by building more homes instead of depriving existing owners of their rights with short-sighted regulations that will discourage people from building or buying residential properties in Hinton?
If you have an opinion on this topic, I would like to hear it.
Stuart Taylor, member of Hinton Council
