Should Ottawa ban Airbnb if you don’t live there?

I read Jon Willing’s October 5th, 2019 well-reported article, Ban some from renting homes short term if they don’t live there, consultant recommends (https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ban-some-people-from-short-term-home-rentals-if-they-dont-live-there-consultant-recommends).

I believe the Maclaren Report is flawed, so I wrote the following to the city of Ottawa’s policy people:

Dear city of Ottawa,

My spouse and I own a home in Ottawa that has a small microsuite in it. The house is near the Ottawa Civic Hospital. My wife advertises it for rent on a home sharing platform and her main clients turn out to be women with high risk pregnancies from out of town who need to stay close to the hospital for anywhere from two to six weeks before delivering their babies. They MUCH prefer our microsuite to a hotel. It’s larger, less expensive, ground-oriented and child-friendly.

We do not live at the home, but we do live nearby.

The income from our microsuite averages about $1,300 a month and it is a meaningful and important  source of revenue for us. I am a senior with a CPP (Canada Pension Plan) payout of about $620 monthly. My spouse, who is younger, does not yet collect anything from CPP. Neither of us have any other pension plans as we have worked in the private sector where defined benefit pension plans are exceedingly scarce.

It is our view that the Maclaren Report is looking through the “wrong end of the telescope” and does not recognize how home sharing can benefit elders (and young people, especially first time homebuyers). Who else is going to provide us with an extra $1,300 a month? Not the city of Ottawa, not the Federal government, in fact, no one.

Please do not ban home sharing even if it is a house one doesn’t live in.

Best,

Bruce Firestone

613-762-8884

Ps in addition, please refer to a letter to the editor of Ottawa Business Journal written by me and two other concerned citizens whose families also depend on home sharing for a living, https://brucemfirestone.com/in-defense-of-the-sharing-economy-and-in-particular-home-sharing-platforms/

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS COACHING THAT’LL HELP YOU PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY FOR 3-GENERATIONS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD
Real Estate Investment and Business coach
ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker
Ottawa Senators founder
1-613-762-8884
bruce.firestone@century21.ca
twitter.com/ProfBruce
profbruce.tumblr.com/archive
brucemfirestone.com

• MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE
• FREEDOM VIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT AND PB4L, PERSONAL BUSINESS FOR LIFE
• FEHAJ, FOR EVERY HOME A JOB
• MAKE YOUR HOME WORK FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF YOU WORKING FOR IT
• HIGHER ROI NOT JUST FOR OWNERS AND INVESTORS, BUT FOR TENANTS, GUESTS, VISITORS, NEIGHBORHOODS, COMMUNITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT TOO

Image source: User:Ibagli – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=946686