Community invited to voice opinions on short term rental licensing

Kingston is seeking input from residents on how to approach licensing short-term rentals, such as AirBnB rentals, through an online survey and open house discussion at City Hall.

The open house will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019 at Memorial Hall in City Hall. The survey will be available at www.GetInvolved.CityofKingston.ca until 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019. All community members are invited to learn more and provide feedback, including those who offer or live near short-term accommodations.

“The popularity of apps like Airbnb and Vrbo has had an impact on the availability of long-term rental units and on neighbourhoods,” said Lacricia Turner, manager of licensing and enforcement for the City of Kingston.  “This survey will help us develop the City’s approach to licensing short-term rentals to fairly regulate these accommodations.”

After the City consulted on general residential rental licensing last year, a report on that consultation was sent to the administrative policies committee on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018.

City Staff were asked to create a short-term licensing bylaw and offer amendments to the current Municipal Tax Bylaw to include short-term rentals and associated costs on Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. This consultation will be focused solely on short-term rentals.

To learn more about the project and see background documents examining how short-term accommodations are managed in Kingston in other communities, visit www.CityofKingston.ca/city-hall/projects-construction/short-term-accommodations.