Moving Quicker to Maintain Rental Housing - by Councillor Paula Fletcher, seconded by Councillor Joe Cressy

Fairbnb Canada reported in February of 2020 that there were more than 23,000 short-term rental listings advertised on Airbnb's website pre-COVID-19. They advise that of these, 9,700 were non-compliant with the City's short-term rental by-laws and 7,300 of them being entire homes. Even if only half of these non-compliant entire homes would be returned to Toronto's housing stock, the report concluded, it would increase Toronto's vacancy rate from 1.3 percent to 2 percent, making accessing housing an easier task for households in the City. COVID-19 has made Toronto's housing and shelter needs more acute than ever. What was recognized as a housing crisis prior to the pandemic has been exacerbated into an increasingly dire situation for many of Toronto's tenants and the city's homeless population. It is to be expected that Toronto's housing crisis will become even worse once we enter the COVID-19 recovery phase and the Landlord and Tenant Board will resume the processing of eviction notices. For Toronto to use all its available tools to protect its residents from the ill-effects of the unregulated short-term rental market, it is important that the City's short-term rental by-laws and its registration and licensing system be implemented as soon as possible to ensure that as many housing units as possible will be available for long-term tenants.