Short Term Rental properties with non-resident owners are just commercial mini-hotels that are allowed to operate in residential neighbourhoods. These businesses are very unsettling to permanent residents. They erode the family friendly community aspects of our neighbourhoods.
The results of this petition will be given to the City Council, so please join us in telling our elected officials that we do not want these commercial operations to be allowed in residential neighbourhoods.
We’re beyond the tipping point:
• we have a housing crisis driven in large part because homes
are being sold and converted from long-term to short-term rentals;
• the quality of life of our residential neighbourhoods is severely degraded, as residents are forced to live next to or near these unregulated motels;
• STRS provide an economic vacation opportunity for people from out of town, neither supporting Owen Sound businesses or employing local talent, thus degrading our economy and local tourism.
One Owen Sound house on 2nd Ave East is owned by realtors who own multiple STRS, none of which they occupy. This particular house is a constant nuisance, needing neighbours to act as watchdogs, while the ‘guests’ disrespect not only the house they are in, but also the property and privacy of the neighbours.
We need strong bylaws and the infrastructure to support and regulate these bylaws. We also need to have limits on on the number and/or location of these motels.
Please think beyond profit for non-resident homeowners, and consider the broader impacts that STRS are having on the Owen Sound communities. We have an opportunity to create a sustainable future for Owen Sound.
There is a petition being circulated by concerned citizens who
are experiencing similar disruptive, noisy behaviour. This situation not only affects the people currently near owner-unoccupied Airbnbs, but all the people who will potentially be affected if we don’t curtail these commercial ventures in residential neighbourhoods.
If you are an Owen Sound resident please sign either this online petition or the paper petition being circulated. Note that only Owen Sound residents may sign the petition, and if you have already signed a paper petition, please do not sign the online version.
Last, write to your City Council. Ask them to stop the commercialization of residential neighbourhoods. The only kind of short term rental that is acceptable in residential zoning is an owner-occupied property.