NEIGHBOURS SPEAK UP
A Resource for Nova Scotia Neighbours
Affected by Short-Term Rentals
Welcome
On This Site You Will Find
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Information about the formation of our neighbourhood group, objectives, on-going activities and resources
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How you can take action to address the issues in your neighbourhood
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Links to news stories highlighting issues and action
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Links to current legislation in Nova Scotia as well as regulatory approaches elsewhere
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Updates and activity relating to legislative and regulatory change
Short-Term Rentals
Neighbourhoods in Halifax and across Nova Scotia are not the only ones struggling to catch up with the sudden growth of short-term rentals...
"Airbnb is invading neighbourhoods. The homeshare business model is evolving from a home-sharing platform for short-term visitors into a service that empowers the operation of unregulated ghost hotels.
The growth of the ghost hotel sector has created legal grey zones, providing cover for vendors who buy and rent burner homes. Short-term rentals are invading neighbourhoods, creating potential tax compliance challenges and adding new zoning, building code and security risks for townhouses, condo towers and apartments.
In its wake, Airbnb and other platforms have left cities and neighbourhoods struggling to cope with the consequences, ranging from the loss of affordable housing stock to public safety and accountability concerns.
Airbnb’s impacts have given rise to coalitions in cities as diverse as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Lisbon, New York, Reykjavik, San Francisco, Santa Monica and Los Angeles – just to name a few. Many jurisdictions have responded with new rules and new enforcement strategies to improve the accountability of Airbnb and other homeshare companies. Inspired by these success stories, we are bringing this debate to Canada to make sure our governments keep pace with this global trend."
Quoted, in solidarity, from the National Coalition website fairbnb.ca
To learn more about the National Coalition visit their website
Join Us
Help restore the integrity of our neighbourhoods
Take Action
1
Write a letter
Contacting your Provincial, City /Town Government Representatives and Officials is the best way to have your opinion heard.
They need to know that you want action.
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Your MLA or City Councillor
They represent YOU
Make sure you let them know
your opinion
Minister of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage
They are Responsible for
Short-term Rentals
in Nova Scotia
The Minister of
Infrastructure & Housing
They are Responsible for Housing
in Nova Scotia
Find Your
Find The Minister of
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MLA and City Councillor
The Minister of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage
The Minister of Municipal Affairs & Housing
"The first point of a city is to live in it, the second is to visit"
Spokesperson for the city of Amsterdam, as quoted in the Guardian
Latest News
"I don't think there's any reasonable public policy justification for these [ghost hotels] to exist at all, let alone to be proliferating.”
McGill University urban planning professor David Wachsmuth