B.C. urged to consider easing short-term rental restrictions in Kelowna before next summer

Stakeholders gathered at the Basil and Mint restaurant in Kelowna Wednesday night for a meeting organized by Airbnb.

Short-term rental owners and tourism operators are amplifying calls for urgent changes to provincially-legislated restrictions implemented in May 2024 in an effort to create more long-term housing.

Stakeholders gathered at the Basil and Mint restaurant in Kelowna, B.C., Wednesday night for a meeting organized by Airbnb.

“We need to come to a conclusion and overcome this challenge together,” said Chris Petty, the owner of Basil and Mint. “Hopefully we get our tourists back. We’ll get our friends back.”

Petty and others, who attended the meeting, called the restrictions devastating for the local tourism industry and business sector.

“I have half the staff I used to,” Petty said.

With Kelowna’s vacancy on track to stay above the required 3 per cent rate for two consecutive years for the province to consider easing the restrictions, city council is poised to request a partial exemption to allow certain buildings to again operate on a short-term basis.

However,  even if approved, those changes wouldn’t go into effect until fall 2026.

“That’s a whole summer that people are going to be missing. Another one. Three in a row,” Petty said. “That’s devastating.”