The City is encouraging residents, including those who offer or live near short-term accommodations, to provide their feedback on short-term rental licensing in an online survey.
The survey, found at GetInvolved.CityofKingston.ca, must be submitted by 4:00pm on Tuesday, Aug. 27. There will also be an open house on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 6:30pm in City Hall Memorial Hall that will provide information about the licensing and accept feedback from the community.
“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 licensing and enforcement. “This survey will help us develop the City’s approach to licensing short-term rentals to fairly regulate these accommodations.”
This consultation is specifically about short-term rentals. The City consulted on residential rental licensing in general last year and the resukting report was submitted to the administrative policies committee on Nov. 8, 2018. Council asked staff to develop a short-term rental licensing bylaw and offer amendments to the Municipal Tax Bylaw that would include short-term rentals and associated costs omn Nov. 20.
More information about this project, including background documents offering a look at short-term accommodations in Kingston and how other communities are managing them, can be found at this City of Kingston page.
