Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Monday the federal government is considering a series of measures to curb the number of Airbnb and other short-term rental units on offer to boost the supply of homes available to rent for a longer stretch.
Fraser said a crackdown on the proliferation of these units is part of a broader Liberal government plan to help build and finance more housing units to deal with an acute shortage of affordable homes.
The fall economic statement, set to be tabled tomorrow, is expected to include billions of dollars worth of new measures to help Canada cope with a severe housing crunch, including low-cost loans for home construction.
But Fraser said there’s another way to address the supply crunch: make existing properties tied up on short-term rental platforms available to prospective long-term renters and buyers.
“We believe there’s likely tens of thousands of homes that could be made available to Canadians by addressing this particular challenge,” Fraser said of Airbnb units, which typically are rented out a few nights at a time to travellers.
“If there’s tens of thousands of units we can turn into not a competitor for a hotel for a few nights but a home for a family in a community, it’s incumbent on us to do everything we can to use those properties for homes.”
