Regulating short-terms rentals (STRs) now could avoid long-term problems later in Barrie.
At least that’s the thought behind a motion recently approved by the city’s community safety committee.
It’s that city staff investigate options to further regulate and enforce STRs in order to curtail issues such as noise, waste and concerns associated with people renting homes that are not their principal residence, and report back to the committee.
“Short-term rentals are becoming more of a concern as we hear from residents about consistent, problematic properties with absentee homeowners and weekend partyers,” said Coun. Bryn Hamilton. “Hopefully this motion will give staff the direction to explore options for our city to curtail nuisance behaviour associated with short-term party rentals.”
The Ward 10 councillor, who's also a committee member, said there are about 350 STRs in Barrie.
City staff say the municipality does not currently regulate short-term rentals, such as Airbnb-type properties.
Hamilton said staff are looking at how a number of other municipalities have handled issues with STR — such as bylaw enforcement, an additional tax on STRs, an STR registry and communicating with platforms like Airbnb about a complaint resolution process.
“There’s no easy solution,” she said.
City staff have indicated, Hamilton said, there were only nine complaints about STRs city-wide in 2023.
“Unfortunately, this only captures residents who specifically state the property of concern is a short-term rental when making their complaint,” she said. “Also the most frequent concerns are noise and/or fire related, so would go through to (Barrie police) or Barrie (Fire and Emergency Service) and are therefore not captured by the city and not easily accessible.
“The reality is the data the city has is not an accurate depiction of the issues residents are experiencing when it comes to short-term party rentals," Hamilton added.
Coun. Sergio Morales, the committee's chairman, said Hamilton’s hard work in the last year helped convince him of the necessity for STR regulations, although he does not yet have a wish list.
“It's her efforts specifically that have made me change my mind from what I thought was unnecessary red tape on STRs to what I now see as overdue reform,” he said.
Hamilton’s rationale for the motion is that neighbourhood complaints concerning short-term rentals, particularly in waterfront areas, are increasing, and that before a serious problem develops it’s important the city is proactively prepared.
Morales said another reason is Barrie’s limited housing stock.
“In a housing crisis, the quickest way to add supply to the market is by returning houses being used as STRs back to the long-term rental market, or returning them to the owner-occupied market,” he said. “This applies to standard neighbourhood homes the most, but waterfront properties and even condos taken out of the supply side market also affect people's ability to attain housing of all price points.
“Homes are meant to be lived in, not to be occupied once in a while as Barrie residents struggle to find homes to buy or rent," Morales added.
The motion also asks the Barrie Police Services Board to provide correspondence back to community safety committee concerning options for a tiered response by the city police to address complaints concerning STRs, especially if police have received multiple complaints about an individual property.
But Barrie police communications coordinator Peter Leon said police track incidents a specific way.
“When police respond to a call for service, we respond to an address and deal with the incident for which we have been called for,” he said.
“Addresses are not labelled in a particular manner. They are simply an address," Leon added.
This Feb. 6 item-for-discussion motion on STRs now goes to general committee on Feb. 28.
Barrie’s neighbouring municipalities, especially Oro-Medonte Township, have had varying degrees of problems with STRs, as residential homes are used for commercial purposes.
The City of Toronto defines a short-term rental as all or part of a dwelling unit rented out for less than 28 consecutive days in exchange for payment. This includes bed and breakfasts, but excludes hotels and motels.
A short-term rental company facilitates or brokers short-term rental reservations online and receives payment for this service. All short-term rental companies are required to obtain a licence to operate in Toronto.
Short-term rental operators are people renting their homes or rooms on a short-term basis, for a period of less than 28 consecutive days.
