Short Term Rentals, January 5, 2022

Short Term Rentals, January 5, 2022

The Squamish Chamber has been active in discussions around short term rentals, including participation at workshops, meetings with District of Squamish staff, research, letters to Council and speaking at the September 2020 public hearing.

A one-year review was conducted in January 2022. The Squamish Chamber expressed our concerns with regulations to District of Squamish Staff verbally and provided additional written feedback to Council, including a number of recommendations”

 “If the District is unwilling to shift its policy away from prohibition of secondary suites and carriage houses, Tourism Squamish and the Squamish Chamber of Commerce request that the details of the policy be changed to enable local hosts where doing so cannot impact the long term housing market. We request that the District enable local host STR’s by taking three steps:

Adapting its Temporary Use Permit policy to make it more accessible to locals.  

The District should:

1. Decrease the price from $3,000/year to $750/year.
2. Either allow for ongoing applications or have multiple application periods during a given year.
3. Remove term limitations: allow reapplication and re-approval on an ongoing basis.
4. Simplify the rules related to where and how many TUPs are allowed with quotas based on the whole community rather than specific areas.

Ensuring STR rules and secondary suite rules are coherent:

1. Given that only one secondary suite and carriage house is allowed for long term rental on a given property, allow for STR of additional secondary suites on properties where one LTR is already in operation.
2. Where a unit is not a legal or registered suite and does not meet the requirements for such, allow the unit to be rented as an STR where safe to do so and in compliance with all safety regulations.

Supporting the expansion of non-dwelling unit STR:

1. Create a program that allows for the fabrication of tiny homes, microhomes, three-season cottages or yurts on properties with adequate land in Squamish.   These units could be rented STR as they are not suitable for long-term rental but could provide visitor accommodation in the high season.   This would limit the grey market by decreasing average STR prices in the summer.
2. Consider the creation of a list of authorized builders/products.   As many of these could be local, this would also support the local economy.”