April 16, 2024: Toronto Legislative Update

Published on Tuesday, April 16th, 2024 by

As noted previously, the Toronto Planning and Housing Committee met Friday, April 5. As shared, we did not anticipate our space would be brought up in discussion and instead the discussion would focus on the STR space. Indeed, that is what happened. Most of the public speakers were individuals who hosted via Airbnb and primarily had issues with the partial residence restriction of 180 days. Later into the discussion, a councilor approach our industry representative and recommended there was no need for anyone to speak on behalf of our industry and all are supportive of our industry.

You can find the recap of the meeting here. Minutes of the discussion on our agenda item can be reviewed here. Note there were a few amendments made to what was recommended to the committee. This includes:

• Amending Chapter 547 to exempt student premises owned by publicly funded or not-for-profit educational institutions.
• Amending recommendation 1b: “b. Amend the definition of principal residence to clarify that an operator’s principal residence cannot include another space on the same property as a proposed or existing short-term rental that meets the definition of a dwelling unit;”
• Deleting recommendations 1d and 5dd related to the 180 night cap.

But again, none of the above currently impact our space.

Next steps:

• The current approved recommendations from the committee will go to the full City Council.
• CHPA will continue to interface with city councillors as they seek clarification from the province on oversight of our space.