How to start fixing the Sunshine Coast's housing shortage. 

The Sunshine Coast's rental stock needs to be increased. There are three things that can be done to make this happen: 

1 - Remove restrictions on strata rentals (provincial)

In the here and now, remove rental restrictions from the Strata Property Act. These restrictions give stratas the ability to block the rental of suites in their complexes in all but a handful of specific situations. Allowing condo owners to do what they please with their properties has the potential to introduce previously unavailable rentals to a market that's in short supply.

2 - Create a housing boom (municipal)

Longer term, the Coast needs more housing. With property values jumping year after year, conditions are ideal for a construction boom yet we're not seeing that happen. That could be because prices for raw land aren't optimal for developers, it could be because there just aren't enough skilled workers to go around, or it could be no builders/developers outside the Sunshine Coast that are aware of our boomless boom.

The cure for this is for the Town of Gibsons to create an environment that's attractive to homebuilders and to then promote it off-coast. 

The town would make a piece of its land available to builders at a discounted rate with the condition that any builder that wants to take advantage of said discount MUST build on the land within a specific time-frame, say 24 months. If the builder doesn't deliver, the land reverts to the town. The town could also dictate the types of properties that would be built on the land or that they must be delivered at a specific price point. 

If a local builder wants to take advantage of the opportunity, excellent. If - for whatever reason - there's a lack of local interest, the town would appoint a salesperson to approach builders from across Western Canada to inform them of the opportunity that awaits them in Gibsons.

Once a developer/builder has been secured, the town assigns a dedicated point-person to expedite construction. Permits will be fast-tracked and the builder will get preferred treatment to ensure that the project is completed on time.

In the short-term, there'd be a construction boom in Gibsons. Local tradespeople would have access to good jobs close to home. If there's insufficient tradespeople to service the project, the builder will bring in its own people. Local hotels will fill up and restaurants and stores will get busier. The wages being paid to construction workers will spill over into the rest of community. This is how a boom benefits an entire region.

At the end of it all, the town is left with more residential properties than it started with and some of this additional supply will start to offset the current demand.

3 - Make tenancy laws more fair for tenants and landlords alike (provincial)

The impetus for the boom in vacation rentals is only partly due to the higher revenues they provide. Mom and pop landlords do not want to deal with the hassle of being a landlord. The province has created an environment where would-be landlords face more and more regulation each year.

By tilting tenancy laws in favour of tenants, the province has created an environment that makes being a residential landlord in BC very unattractive. If landlords would sooner let their homes sit empty than they would rent them out, the introduction of a vacancy tax will simple force investors to exit the market completely.

This isn't to say landlords should be allowed to do as they see fit. The tenancy laws need to be adjusted to make each party more accountable.

Introduce a "landlord license" that functions like a driver's license. Landlords need to pass a test before they can rent out their property. For not following tenancy laws, landlords receive demerits. If they exceed their maximum allotment of demerits, they lose the privilege of owning rental property.

At the same time, clamp down on deadbeat tenants. Failing to pay rent means a dispute resolution hearing within days instead of months. Tenants that injure (or threaten to injure) or that destroy property are subject to immediate eviction.

The overwhelming majority of both landlords AND tenants are decent people but the current system allows a small minority of each to ruin the entire rental industry for everyone else. The only way to fix this is by cracking down on both sides.