By Steve Hubrecht
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Invermere council members received the results of the district’s short term rentals (STR) survey during their most recent council meeting.
The survey was conducted earlier this fall, running through much of September and into early October and is a major initial step for Invermere in dealing with an issue that has exploded over the past several years.
Invermere chief administrative officer, Andrew Young, explained at the Tuesday, Nov. 9 council meeting that the survey had 671 local respondents, a very strong level of response, given the district’s population of slightly less than 3,000 people.
“It is apparent that respondents generally support STR accommodation within the community, but would like to see them regulated and operations improved,” said Young, adding there is a clear desire for greater accountability from STR property owners and managers.
“The comments do show a perceived conflict between short and long term rentals creating a housing shortage of long term rental housing, which in turn is causing difficulty for local businesses to attract and retain staff,” said Young.
He outlined that along with the more straightforward question-and-answer responses, survey participants had sent in more than 60 pages of written comments, which district staff are currently going through to address potential privacy concerns and make as anonymous as possible, and which they will then share with council.
Invermere councillor Gerry Taft said the results were great, but also said he was wary of reading too much into them, as in his opinion surveys can easily be skewed by comparatively small numbers of people who are particularly passionate about a given issue.
Taft also said he wasn’t sure exactly how large a role STRs are playing in the current long term rental shortage, saying it may not necessarily be a wholly clear cut case of cause and effect. “It (STRs) absolutely plays a role,” he said, but questioned if it was directly a “one-to-one” effect. Taft added that in the case of at least several current properties being used as STRs, if the option to use these homes as STRs “suddenly went away, they would not automatically become long term rentals” and that the district can’t force landlords to convert from STRs to long term rentals. As an example of other forces affecting the long term rental market in Invermere, he suggested the stall in Invermere’s housing prices for most the past decade had led many homeowners to rent long term, when ordinarily they wouldn’t have. Now that home prices are chugging rapidly upward, those homeowners have decided to sell rather than rent, leaving long term renters fewer options, said Taft.
The survey results will next go to a committee of the whole meeting for further discussion before being turned over to the mayor’s task force on housing.
Councillor Greg Anderson asked about a timeline for how Invermere will tackle the STR issue, now that the survey is complete.
“Certainly as soon as possible,” replied Invermere mayor Al Miller, adding more research, specifically into what other B.C. communities are doing about STRs, is needed before any action occurs. Miller said he would like the task force on housing to be able to begin looking at the issue early in the new year, and come up with some recommendations thereafter.
Invermere resident John Rouse noted that there are a number of big housing projects being undertaken by B.C. communities, including nearby in Cranbrook, specifically to create long term rental housing, and suggested this could be a possible idea for Invermere to look at to help with its long term rental housing shortage.
