A report released on Wednesday from McGill researchers found that short-term rental (STR) restrictions in Vancouver drove rents down by an average of $147/month in 2023, the NDP said.

The report concludes that reversing Premier David Eby’s short-term rental restrictions would drive rent up again. Dr. David Wachsmuth, the Canada Research Chair in Urban Governance at McGill University and a leading expert on STR research, says: “This implies that, if the province’s STR rules were to be repealed after 2024, within two years B.C. renter households in these cities would have paid an extra $1-billion in rent.”

The NDP noted that B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad plans to repeal the ban. He recently told supporters: “We’re going to repeal the bill that restricts Airbnb. It makes no sense at all to be restricting private property on that.” (Video Clip)

The NDP said that Rustad opposes nearly every measure Eby has taken to tackle housing costs.

Ravi Kahlon, BC NDP candidate, said: “David Eby is tackling housing costs with actions like cracking down on illegal short-term rentals – and it’s starting to show results. John Rustad has been defending the status quo and is promising to cancel the actions we’re taking and go back to the old rules. His plan to scrap this new law would turn long-term homes back into short-term rentals and drive up rents. That’s a risk people can’t afford.”