Timing as they say, is everything. The search for victims continues in Old Montreal nearly a week after a major fire left at least two dead and five missing.
The historic building contained multiple illegal Airbnb units at the time of the fire and has once again brought the problem of Airbnbs and other short-term rentals into sharp relief.
A horrible tragedy but one whose timing dovetails succinctly with Osoyoos’ ongoing public feedback process as the town grapples with developing a strategy around the growing plethora of short-term rentals in town.
The short-term rentals, epitomized by the Airbnb brand, are illegal in Osoyoos because they violate town bylaws prohibiting such rentals.
The town has struggled to reign them because of the lengthy process involved in investigating and pursuing penalties against owners, many of whom are non-resident owners and often from the Lower Mainland.
It is unconscionable to be operating these rentals not only when the town desperately struggles to find workers – in large part due to the lack of housing – for its seasonal tourist business, but also considering the entire country is in the midst of a housing and rental crisis.
And no, I don’t buy the fallacy that short-term rentals are necessary to help pay off mortgages. This is nothing more than a red herring. Medium- and long-term renters also help pay off mortgages and contribute far more to the community.
While this may be the case for someone with a second home – likely a not insignificant portion of the short-term rentals in Osoyoos – if it is indeed a second home then I have zero compassion for these people and their mortgage given the vast number of people who struggle to purchase even a single house in their lifetime.
Should short-term rentals be given a green light at some stage then at the very minimum there absolutely must be a registration and permitting requirement.
Various municipalities around the province already have widely varying requirements and this is part of the problem.
Really there should be a base level of regulations that are provincially espoused and enforceable, with municipalities given the option of “adding on” for their own particular environment.
One crucial piece of this, even without a provincial standard, surely must revolve around fire and life safety. This is a massive loophole that comes with horrifying consequences as we have just witnessed in Montreal.
Sure we don’t have a single building that is anywhere as old as the heritage building in Old Montreal but what of a house even 15 or 20 years old? Does it have updated smoke or carbon monoxide detectors? And what about fire extinguishers and other fire suppression equipment? How about emergency egress maps like they have on the back of hotel room doors?
Think about it, it’s 3 a.m. and you’re awoken by a fire raging in your Airbnb. You are in a room, a house that you’ve never been in before. It’s dark, it’s smoky. Where is the safest exit, is there more than one exit? Maybe there’s no emergency lighting.
Perhaps there was no fire alarm and you didn’t even stand a chance to get out anyway, other than in a body bag. And I’ve been told by first responders that death by fire is among the most horrible of deaths.
This situation is also compounded in cases where large Airbnb type houses that go for multiple thousands of dollars per night encourage groups of a dozen or 15 people to make it cost effective. We’ve seen the results of this kind of “overloading” in the Okanagan with houseboats some years back.
Hotels are strictly regulated on fire and life safety and there is just no justification for short-term rentals to not have the same requirement.
It’s time to push back against what in many cases is simply greed. And the only way to do this is for the province to step up and provide the enforcement teeth that will be an enabler for small municipalities like Osoyoos to easily and effectively enforce the regulations.
And if a community, like Osoyoos, decides to endorse short-term rentals, there must be a permitting process of which the base minimum requirements should be set by the province including a requirement for fire inspection.
And again, municipalities must be enabled with a streamlined, effective means of enforcing these regulatory requirements.
