Time to act

The County’s proposed regulations presentation and supporting documents can be found here.

There are times when winning just isn’t among the available options. Only degrees of losing.

On such occasions, I will admit some sympathy for municipal folks when they stray from Shire Hall.

Last week the County’s planning manager, Paul Walsh, unveiled preliminary plans to regulate short-term accommodations (STAs), AirBnBs and such. Billed as a consultation on the proposed plan, it was evident from their comments that few council members had actually read the report, or studied the 136-page supporting document. Some appeared interested only in scoring points with the large crowd of voters who had assembled in Highline Hall on this warm evening.

Meanwhile the crowd of 200-plus, mostly anxious property owners wanted specific answers about their personal circumstance amidst a general uneasiness with the prospect of any regulation at all. Would the County cut off the hand that feeds it? Consultation felt a lot like confusion.

The conclusion most folks took away from the meeting in the following days was that either A) the plan was a done deal, or B) it was half-baked. The exercise of consulting with the community was either; a sham that masked pre-ordained decisions, or evidence that the municipality didn’t know what it wanted to do. There was, it seemed, little allowance for success in many of the assessments of the proposal. It’s too bad, because the plan is a good one.

A messy process for sure. And, it must be said, there is nothing inherently wrong, or particularly worrying with any of this. Except timing.

A general fogginess about what is being proposed ought not delay Council from implementing rules to regulate STAs.

Unhelpfully, Mayor Robert Quaiff offered the opinion, early in the meeting, that he and his colleagues should slow down, that they take more time to ponder the rules more carefully and study the issues a while longer.

He is dead wrong. Here is why.

Currently the Airbnb or STA marketplace in the County is an unregulated, unfettered wild west. It needs to be regulated. No one argues this basic point. We regulate every other bit of housing and accommodation. We regulate the temperature at which the water leaves your faucet. We regulate children riding their bikes on sidewalks. It is reasonable and appropriate that the municipality set standards and rules for this fast-growing sector, that is, in some places, reshaping our community.

The only question is: How?

The regulations tabled last week have been well-researched. They seem moderate and workable.

But here is the thing: even if Shire Hall gets some of it wrong, and it will, the mistakes can be fixed on the fly. These are not stone tablets—forever deigning what shall or shall not be done. Some problems may not be evident until they are in place. Fix them then.

But ignoring lawlessness is dangerous and negligent. Once we’ve reached the conclusion that some activity or business requires licensing and regulation—time is of the essence. There will be those who seek to take advantage of the state of limbo. Speculators always move faster than slow-footed governments. Those accumulating a portfolio of unregulated AirBnB properties, will use this period of dithering to expand their holdings. They will move to exploit this opportunity before the window closes. This, in turn, will have the effect of amplifying the damaging impact of STAs on an already vulnerable housing market in the County.

This is not to minimize the worries and concerns expressed by all sides. But the work done by Shire Hall and their advisors is thorough and solid. This is something those grandstanding council members would have understood had they spent time studying it before the public meeting. They might have helped communicate the strengths of the proposal rather than sow doubt.

No amount of study or examination will yield the perfect set of rules. Only experience will reveal the flaws that are unique to the County’s circumstances. Only experience will tell us how the rules need to be revised and updated.

Some folks complain about erecting a bureaucratic complex to manage the new regulations. Others see a single administration person and enforcement officer as wildly insufficient. Again, not everyone will be made happy. But, I expect the task of enforcement will be eagerly taken up by neighbours weary of noisy parties, disappearing neighbours and streets of empty homes. And with fines starting at $1,000 for non-compliance—the message will spread quickly.

And while it is not the sole cause of the lack of affordable housing in our community, STAs are a factor. According to Walsh’s findings there are more than l,000 STAs in the County. Eighty-three percent are entire homes. That means that more than 800 families have been displaced from our midst. In a community with just 12,000 homes this means we have ripped a serious hole in our neighbourhoods and the fabric of our communities. We must stop the bleeding.

On their own, these regulations won’t solve all the challenges created by the County’s vibrant tourist accommodation sector. Nor will they extract a meaningful revenue stream to fix roads and bridges.

But they will put some order and standards where none exist currently. It is much better for everyone, that we have certainty and a basic set of rules. And that these are put in place quickly.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca