A commentary by a 91原创 resident who owns a small place in Victoria.
I live in 91原创 and own a little suite in Victoria that I’ve been renting out on Airbnb.
As a result of the new legislation that has been tabled I am going to start renting it out on a month-to-month basis. The government is going to get its wish.
My 280-square-foot suite that was designed as a hotel room in the 1800s and was converted into condos several years ago will be someone’s home.
No doubt there will be outrage over the fact that someone has to live in such a small space but that is what we are being told must be.
Here’s what I am not going to do. I’m not going to pay the City of Victoria $2,500 per year for the right to rent my suite out. I’m not going to pay the Government of B.C. $2,000 for a vacancy tax on a suite that was rarely vacant.
I’m not going to pay the $4,000 that I was scheduled to give to the federal government for the underused housing tax.
For those of you keeping track that’s $8,500 in taxes that I was slated to pay, taxes that were not going to go directly to any form of affordable housing, but into general revenue.
Beyond that, I’m not going to pay a manager $8,000 per year to manage my suite. I’m not going to pay my cleaner $14,000 year.
I’m not sure what my manager and cleaner are going to do. I hope they’ll be able to continue to afford to live where they are. If they can’t, I wonder if there will be government subsidized housing available for them.
I’m not going to help bring tourist dollars into the economy. The industry that supports the restaurants and bars and tour operators in and around Victoria.
I’ll be renting my little suite to one of the people who works in those industries. Provided that they can still afford to pay rent.
I originally bought the suite because I like to visit Victoria and I wanted a little place to stay. Hotel room rates in my area were in the $500 per night range in the summer and I found it unaffordable.
I loved the vibe of the neighbourhood and wanted to continue to visit. Starting the evening off at Little Jumbo or Ferris’ then moving on to Il Terrazo, Wind Cries Mary, Paggliacci’s or Brio.
The Ruby the next morning for breakfast, or Jam. The noodle shops and the dumpling joints in Chinatown.
I can’t name them all, but I’ll miss them. I’m sure that in a small way, they’ll miss me too. Not me personally per se, but my business. And my guests’ business.
I understand that politics trumps reality at times and that governments who have no solutions have to find scapegoats.
Listening to Premier David Eby on the radio on Monday made me think of the Fonz on waterskis — a last-ditch effort to preserve ratings.
Armed with no facts, he resorted to “give me a break, not a single person finds it credible in any way that short-term rentals haven’t eroded long-term rentals in this province.”
Populism is alive and well.
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