Bill No. 101 - Tourist Accommodations Registration Act. - Second Reading

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to rise and speak to this new tourist registration bill. This is something that we in the New Democratic Party caucus have been watching closely for some time and, in general, I would say that this bill seems to be going in the right direction. We do have some questions and concerns which we'll go through and, of course, we'll look forward to hearing from the public.

We're happy that the bill does seem to level the playing field somewhat with the traditional tourism industry and, importantly, makes the distinction between small hosts who are renting out a room in their primary residence and larger hosts who are essentially running some version of a hotel business, although my colleague's point is well taken that there may be more clarification needed for particular PIDs and dwellings on those parcels of property.

That's something we hadn't considered and I look forward to hearing from the minister and submissions on how that might be impacted. Notwithstanding that, there are two quite different uses of Airbnb-style platforms at the moment and they have very different outcomes. I'm renting a room or two or I'm renting out a suite in my home or I'm running a business essentially where I own several properties that I'm renting out as a hotel but I'm skirting the registration and fee requirements that go along with that that are different.

One question that we have is around enforcement. We see that there are fines and that there's the opportunity for enforcement, but we have no understanding of what that mechanism will be and where the burden of that mechanism will be. I know that this government talks about red tape reduction. Will that enforcement be more red tape for Nova Scotians or will the burden be on profitable, online platforms like Airbnb and will they have meaningful disincentives to flout the rules? That's something that we're really going to be watching.

It's a tricky bill because I think there are really some differences between the rural context with Airbnb and the urban context. I think both the minister and my colleague in the Opposition have spoken clearly to the opportunities that the sharing economy provides for rural Nova Scotia and those are very important, but they also provide some serious pressures for some urban municipalities. So one thing that we haven't seen discussed - and that I'm not clear that there has actually been consultation on - is the squeeze that the sharing economy is putting on rental accommodations particularly in HRM.

In my own constituency, this is an issue. In Halifax Needham this is an enormous issue where we simply don't have any - I mean, affordable housing is an issue, period, but it is, I would suggest, being strongly exacerbated by the rise in Airbnb. Where once someone would have stable long-term renters for a property, they're finding it more profitable to turn it into short-term rentals, so our affordable or even semi-affordable rental stock is really, really dwindling. That's something that we're watching and that we want to make sure there's some study and discussion of those impacts.

We haven't seen that. I'm hoping that we hear something about that at Law Amendments Committee and I hope that there is some consultation in that area, but I do think that even in that regard, this bill is a step in the right direction in making that distinction between folks who are renting a room which, again, that also has an impact on the affordability of housing. I know several people in the urban core who have only been able to afford to purchase a home because they could then take advantage of the opportunities of renting a room.

We're not disincentivizing this but we're just saying that there are some very important distinctions that need to be made. We need to ensure that we're not negatively impacting the housing supply, because it's very important.

So, I'll leave it there for now. We'll really look forward to the Law Amendments Committee and to the minister's comments and, with those few words, I'll take my seat.