Companies like Airbnb offer short term rentals in B.C.. Shutterstock
Former Vancouver City Councillor turned blogger (and Fellow with the SFU Centre for Dialogue) Gordon Price shared an interesting fact yesterday: Berlin has banned short term rentals, and they're not messing around.
This article outlines how speculators were driving up housing prices in the city (sounds familiar), and how the city decided to take action.
Since 2016 they've issued almost $40,000,000 CDN in fines, and are claiming that nearly 8,000 units have been returned to the rental market. One of the ways they enforce the ban is by way of this snitch website where citizens can report short term rentals to the government.
It's unclear if it's really making a difference, and the law has been challenged multiple times. However it's inspiring to see how other major cities are taking bold action when approaching their housing crunches. Let's hope Vancouver can take notes and catch up.
Screen grab of Berlin’s housing snitch form
