Council for the Municipality of Kincardine directed staff this week to move forward with the implementation of a short-term rental accommodation (STRA) licensing program, as well as a municipal accommodation tax (MAT).
The motion passed at Wednesday's meeting only directed staff to draft a by-law, which would then require another vote to pass. The motion passed 5-3, with Mayor Ken Craig absent from the meeting.
Councillor Beth Blackwell said the STRA licensing would help the Municipality understand how much of the housing supply was being used for rentals, while also helping the renters.
"There's a number of reasons I support that; safety for the public and getting even a sense of how many are out there," she said. "The recommendation is to do it a cost-recovery basis. It's not to make money off of, it's to ensure that we have a sense of what's going on with our housing market as well as support tourists coming in because there are no safety regulations at this point."
Councillor Bill Stewart was against the motion, pointing to a lack of support from interest groups as well.
"I haven't seen anyone come from the public to support it, the BIA doesn't support it, the private hotel people don't support it. I think that it's quite dangerous for Kincardine to take on this thing, no other community, Goderich or Saugeen Shores has, so I won't be supporting this motion."
The Municipality has been exploring the possibility of increased regulations on short-term accommodations for much of the year, beginning with a MAT analysis conducted by McSweeney and Associates Consulting back in May. There were several open houses held over the summer to discuss the matters as well.
A survey conducted by the Municipality showed that 47 per cent of respondents were in favour of licensing STRAs, while 41 per cent were opposed. When presented with options for managing STRAs, 51 per cent chose keeping the status quo and using current bylaws to deal with complaints, while 42 per cent preferred licensing.
Survey respondents also noted that STRAs largely serve Bruce Power workers, and questioned why the company hasn't constructed its own workforce housing.
Councillor Rory Cavanagh said the Municipality didn't have many tools at its disposal to increase usage of the current housing availability, but this could be one.
"Our community faces a very real challenge with regards to housing affordability and access. Home ownership often feels out of reach and rental stock is shrinking. We also know that there's an increasing number of unregulated short-term rentals that are popping up in the area, taking advantage of the fact that we have a transient workforce... but we can discourage exploitative or extractive practices, by insisting that every short-term rental unit is registered and constributing its fair share of its value to municipal services."
Councillor Mike Hinchberger said the proposed timeline if the by-law is passed would have the STRA licences in place to start next year, while the MAT would not be implemented until 2027.