Let’s Ban Airbnb
The Comité logement du Plateau Mont-Royal is currently campaigning to get an immediate ban on tourist lodging offered through Airbnb-type platforms.
Here are some tools to learn more about these platforms and their effects:
Research report “Le phénomène Airbnb : à l’assaut de nos milieux de vie” Click here to read the report (available in French)
Pamphlet: Click here to see the flyer (available in French)
Canada is one of Airbnb’s most prolific markets. Montréal was in the top 10 most popular cities on Airbnb in 2016—and the Plateau Mont-Royal is the borough with the most offerings on the platform, with over 2,919 listings. Considering that the Plateau Mont-Royal has over 565,809 housing units, this means that 5% of them would be listed for rent on Airbnb alone.
Airbnb has an enormous effect on tenants and neighbourhoods and can lead to:
- Conflicts between neighbours/excessive noise
- The loss and/or deterioration of rich and harmonious neighbourhoods
- Unsafe living conditions
- The drops of available rental housing in the neighbourhood
- Evictions and repossessions used as tactics to remove tenants
- Higher rent prices
Ultimately, Airbnb is a GENTRIFICATION TOOL
Government authorities in Quebec and around the world have taken different courses of action to control Airbnb, whether through quotas or taxation. These methods have, however, been insufficient—Bill 67 hasn’t helped to resolve this issue.
These are just some of the reasons why the Comité logement du Plateau Mont-Royal is determined to:
Protect Quebec rental housing by immediately banning tourist lodging offered through Airbnb-type platforms;
Implement a ban rather than add layers of control such as quotas and taxation, considering that these types of control strategies are not effective in protecting rental housing.
