Taking away from people in the community? Assessing short-term rentals in a rural Canadian context

Since the beginning of the 2008 economic crisis, Majorca has experienced an increase in tourism, which has been made possible partly by the expansion of short-term renting. Research on short-term rentals is a growing field in critical urban and tourism geographies. This paper contributes to these fields by examining the structure of actors involved in the development of short-term rentals and their power relations. Our case study focuses on the municipality of Pollença (Majorca, Spain). Pollença was chosen due to its status as one of the most noteworthy airbnbificated places in Europe and because of the number of holiday rentals in the municipality's rural areas. While a great deal of research has focused on rent gaps and gentrification caused by short-term rentals in cities, the rentier coalition associated with short-term rentals has been comparatively overlooked. We address who the rentiers of short-term rentals are, the power relations that lie behind short-term rentals, and how these rentiers form part of a locally based coalition that has the ability to adapt planning regulations to suit their own interests. We used mixed methods, including quantitative spatial analysis and qualitative analysis in the form of interviews with those who benefit locally from short-term rentals. Our qualitative approach further included in-depth fieldwork and activist research. We conclude that a powerful rentier growth coalition has corrupted democracy because the regulatory framework has been adjusted to satisfy their interests and the conversion of properties into holiday rentals has been done either illegally or on the verge of legality without strong legal consequences.

Although the need to retain rural registered nurses is pressing, little is known about what influences them to stay in their current employment. The objectives of the study were: to examine public health nurses’ (PHNs) job and community satisfaction; to relate job and community satisfaction to their decision to stay in their current employment in rural British Columbia. A survey was mailed to all front-line PHNs in 48 rural and small urban communities in British Columbia. Of the 164 eligible PHNs, 124 responded (76% response rate). PHNs were most satisfied with their professional status, professional interaction and autonomy, their communities’ acceptance of their partners, friendliness of the community and their friends. They were least satisfied with their salary. Job satisfaction or community satisfaction was not found to influence retention. Instead, “filter factors” such as age, retirement, family needs and the economy affected PHNs’ intent to stay or leave. If PHNs are to be retained in rural areas, their economic and family life situations merit greater attention, as does their experience of living and working in rural communities.

Growing evidence shows that short-term rental growth in large cities across the globe—through e-platforms like Airbnb or Homeaway—has had an impact on the rise of housing prices and rents before the pandemic. The hypothesis in this paper is that housing prices and rents would have increased also in absence of short-term rental contracts due to the increased valuation of amenities. An increase of inequality drives high-income demand toward homes with better access to attractive amenities. In this view, the presence of Airbnb is not the main driver for housing prices in these areas and—while statistically significant—it may be playing a marginal role overall. In order to test that hypothesis, a combined micro dataset is built based on five different databases in Spain: i) the 2011 Census, providing data about the housing stock at the neighborhood level including housing features; ii) a housing rental database, including information of (non-short term) rents at micro level; iii) a transaction database, yielding information about housing transaction prices; iv) a database containing geolocated amenities identified in each city, which allows to calculate the distances between every single house rented or transacted; v) and an Airbnb dataset, which provides information about short-term rental prices and frequencies at the household level. The hypothesis is tested on the matched database. The estimation is undertaken for 2015 to 2019, the critical years where the short-term rental market experienced dramatic growth. The analytical process takes the Census district as the reference region. In every district, the distances to main amenities are calculated by using the georeferenced feature of each database. We calculate a quality-controlled price index based on a hedonic model in order to avoid quality biases across districts. We control for lagged housing characteristics as of 2011, in order to avoid endogeneity issues. We model the long-term rental and property price increase controlled as a function of distances to amenities and other key neighbourhood characteristics using a regression model inspired by the AMM (Alonso-Muth-Mills) framework. We also control for the short-term rentals market activity and compare the importance of each relative factor. The empirical evidence comes from five different Spanish cities: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla and Bilbao, Spain, well-recognized cities with strong attraction due to their amenities and culture, and with both large housing price increases and short-term rental activity between 2015 and 2019.

People with a chemical dependency often have limited access to treatment in rural British Columbia (BC), which contributes to the migration opiate-addicted persons to larger centres away from their support network in smaller communities. Support of family and friends can be crucial to opiate-addicted individuals with a concurrent mental health issue. Methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) is a useful treatment option for those addicted to opiates, and may be especially beneficial to those with a mental health issue; however, MMT in particular is often not available in smaller and rural communities. The present paper discusses the benefits of MMT and the lack of access to this treatment in rural BC communities. Further, a novel approach that was proposed in one particular rural BC community is outlined: Using the existing nursing infrastructure to facilitate access to MMT.

Airbnb, the short-term rental (STR) company that operates in 65,000 cities and 191 countries is the most disruptive and transformative force in urban housing and planning in recent memory. On any given day, in Germany the company lists approximately 100,000 accommodations primarily in the larger cities. In Berlin the company lists nearly 38,500 beds in 20,000 accommodations or 27 per cent of the city’s entire hospitality market. Airbnb is a major player in other German cities as well including Munich, Cologne, and Hamburg where the online company holds 20 per cent, 16 per cent, and 15 per cent shares in the hospitality market, respectively. Drawing on the experiences of Germany’s ten largest cities, the article examines three questions. How do German city leaders understand the public problem posed by STRs? What are the economic, political, and administrative challenges to regulating STRs? And finally, how are Germany cities regulating STRs and what explains the variation across cities?

Proliferation of Short Term Rental (STR) in cities has generated considerable debate as it was found associated with negative externalities, such as gentrification. Nonetheless, it signals urban qualities working as attractors at different geographical scales. STRs’ relation with urban form remains largely understudied. In this paper, we explore how urban form relates to STRs registered by the Airbnb platform in Amsterdam (NL). First, we identify urban types (homogenous patterns of form) through an ‘urban morphometric’ approach. Second, we assess the relation between urban types and density of Airbnbs via a composite machine learning (ML) technique. Third, we provide profiles of the urban types most strongly associated with it. Fifteen urban types explain up to 44% of Airbnb density’s variance. Compact and diverse urban types relate more strongly with Airbnbs. Conversely, repetitive, sparse and uniform urban types are inversely related. The proposed morphometric-based method is robust, replicable and scalable, offering a novel way to study the intricate relation between urban form, STRs and, in fact, any other measurable urban dynamics at an unprecedented scale. By identifying spatial features related to urban attractiveness, it can inform evidence-based design codes incorporating place-making qualities in existing and new neighbourhoods.

<div>The use of short-term vacation rental services has grown significantly since their establishment, but little concrete information is known about their effects on communities. The research that exists on the impacts of short-term rentals is heavily skewed toward larger cities and metropolitan areas, leaving smaller cities and rural areas unexamined. However, rural areas in Canada are experiencing faster growth of short-term rentals than urban areas. This study examines the regulations and enforcement regimes of three case study local governments across Canada, using interviews with planning professionals to consider the regulatory responses put forward by these communities and their perceived effects on STVR operations. Findings suggest that appropriate regulatory measures vary widely between communities. Recommendations are for those considering implementing STVR regulations, addressing housing protection, data gathering, and regulation typology.</div><div><br></div><div>Key words: short-term rental, regulation, enforcement, planning, small cities.</div>

<div>The use of short-term vacation rental services has grown significantly since their establishment, but little concrete information is known about their effects on communities. The research that exists on the impacts of short-term rentals is heavily skewed toward larger cities and metropolitan areas, leaving smaller cities and rural areas unexamined. However, rural areas in Canada are experiencing faster growth of short-term rentals than urban areas. This study examines the regulations and enforcement regimes of three case study local governments across Canada, using interviews with planning professionals to consider the regulatory responses put forward by these communities and their perceived effects on STVR operations. Findings suggest that appropriate regulatory measures vary widely between communities. Recommendations are for those considering implementing STVR regulations, addressing housing protection, data gathering, and regulation typology.</div><div><br></div><div>Key words: short-term rental, regulation, enforcement, planning, small cities.</div>

This article analyses the challenges of controlling short-term rentals (STR) in an era of intermediation by digital platforms, focusing on the process of regulatory enforcement. Drawing on evidence from large European cities, it investigates how public authorities identify and tackle STR deemed illegal, how operators of illegal STR seek to escape detection, and the relationships between city governments and digital platforms in the process of regulatory enforcement. The article shows what digitalisation and ‘platformisation’ do to the possibility of (local) state regulation of housing informality and illegality in the European context. As platforms have been reluctant to release individualised STR listings to local authorities, the latter have had to rely on imperfect, ‘DIY’ methods of data gathering in the physical and digital worlds, in the context of attempts to regulate STR for public interest objectives such as the protection of the long-term residential stock.

One of the many impacts of the Covid pandemic on Canadian cities was the complete collapse of short-term rental (STR) markets, as long-distance travel nearly vanished for more than a year. Many dedicated STRs shifted back to the long-term rental market, but others remained on STR platforms such as Airbnb but with minimum stays of one month or more—a land use we describe as “medium-term rentals” (MTRs). This paper provides a planning analysis of online-platform-mediated MTRs in Canadian cities and their housing-market, land-use, and regulatory implications. First, we identify and explore the regulatory grey zone inhabited by MTRs, which appear to be neither standard residential tenancies nor short-term tourist accommodations. Second, the paper provides a brief empirical overview of the emergence of MTRs during and after the Covid pandemic in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Third, the paper uses a policy case study of situations in which Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board has been asked to adjudicate non-standard tenancies to establish whether there is a planning basis for distinguishing medium-term rentals from other tenancy types. The paper concludes by identifying a key planning principle which could allow Canadian municipalities to pull MTRs out of the regulatory grey zone: regulating type of stay instead of length of stay.

Short-term rentals have become a prominent issue for both academic research and public policy. While the determinants and impact of Airbnb have been largely studied in touristic and major cities, there is still a lack of contextualized studies that focus on the activity of Airbnb in small towns and interior and rural areas. The aim of this article is to comprehensively analyse short-term rentals (STR) in Aragon (Spain), an interior region predominantly rural and mountainous. It explores the geographical distribution of STRs, their relationship with the hospitality sector, housing stocks and other geographic and socioeconomic variables. To do so, statistical analyses (Pearson correlation, Pareto and multiple linear regression models) were used. First, the results suggest that Airbnb overlaps the traditional tourist accommodation supply and has close links with second homes and empty properties. Second, the presence of Airbnb is denser in mountain towns, close to ski-resorts, nature and wildlife.

Accommodation is one of the main sectors affected by the emergence of platform economies. This issue has been addressed by many researchers, but they have mainly focussed on Airbnb and large cities. Thus, there is a need for research on medium-sized cities and how they have been affected by the growth of short-term rental (STR) homes. Using official data, we analysed the spatial distribution of holiday rental homes in four Andalusian cities: Cordova, Granada, Malaga, and Seville. Using tourist density and intensity indicators, we created maps showing the concentration of STRs in historic centres, which matches the spatial distribution pattern of traditional tourist accommodation (TA). The analysis also identified areas in each city into which STRs may expand in the future. The results of this study may help policymakers and institutions responsible for territorial and tourism planning to better understand how the emergence of platform economies is impacting tourist destinations. They should also assist policymakers in making informed decisions on regulating this phenomenon.

In the last several years, Airbnb and other short-term rental services have grown precipitously across Canada, but very little is known about the scale and character of this activity or its impact on housing. Relying on spatial analysis of big data, this study presents the first comprehensive analysis of Airbnb in Canada, with an emphasis on the interaction between the short-term rental market and long-term housing. Airbnb activity is highly concentrated geographically—nearly half of all active listings are located in the Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver metropolitan areas—and highly concentrated among hosts, the top 10% of whom earn a majority of all revenue. Contrary to the rhetoric of “home sharing”, almost 50% of all Airbnb revenue last year was generated by commercial operators who manage multiple listings. Moreover, between 17,000 to 43,000 entire homes were rented frequently enough last year that they are unlikely to house a permanent resident. This housing pressure disproportionately affects West Coast cities: between 10% and 70% of Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, and Abbotsford-Mission residents live in neighbourhoods whose rental vacancy rate is exceeded by the proportion of housing units that are frequently rented on Airbnb. While current Airbnb activity is concentrated in major cities, active listings, total revenue, hosts with multiple listings, and frequently rented entire-home listings are all growing at substantially higher rates in small towns and rural areas.

Although the need to retain rural registered nurses is pressing, little is known about what influences them to stay in their current employment. The objectives of the study were: to examine public health nurses' (PHNs) job and community satisfaction; to relate job and community satisfaction to their decision to stay in their current employment in rural British Columbia. A survey was mailed to all front-line PHNs in 48 rural and small urban communities in British Columbia. Of the 164 eligible PHNs, 124 responded (76% response rate). PHNs were most satisfied with their professional status, professional interaction and autonomy, their communities' acceptance of their partners, friendliness of the community and their friends. They were least satisfied with their salary. Job satisfaction or community satisfaction was not found to influence retention. Instead, "filter factors" such as age, retirement, family needs and the economy affected PHNs' intent to stay or leave. If PHNs are to be retained in rural areas, their economic and family life situations merit greater attention, as does their experience of living and working in rural communities.

From the perspective of an Alpine town with high tourism intensity, this paper adds to the literature on the political economy of short-term rentals (STRs). While holiday apartments are a relatively new phenomenon in cities, connected to the emergence of the platform economy, in many Alpine destinations, they have constituted an important segment of tourist accommodation for many decades. This is the situation in our case study town, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Bavaria, Germany), where many holiday apartments have traditionally been part of detached houses. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork, the paper seeks to answer two questions: (1) How has the holiday rental market changed with the rise of digital platforms? (2) What socio-spatial consequences did the transformation of the holiday rental market have? We found that the profound restructuring of the STR market is primarily related to two interconnected reasons: (a) To the growth and professionalization of traditional STR management companies, and (b) to a growing number of external investors, particularly wealthy private individuals, who acquire holiday apartments as capital storage and financial investment. Due to the extremely high real estate prices, newly built apartments are almost exclusively offered on the STR market, which in turn causes rental and building prices to rise again. For policies in rural areas, it is of utmost importance to take those new platform-related (financialization) dynamics into account. While local property owners and non-local investors drive the restructuring of the holiday rental market, benefiting from escalating real estate prices and from the extraction of tourism rent, the non-property-owning population is priced out of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The explosion in real estate prices has meant that it is almost impossible for tourism employees to find affordable housing, which, in turn, is becoming a burden for labor-intensive tourism businesses. This highly unequal socio-spatial development is becoming an ever-greater problem for the town.