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- One building’s story of the impact of short-term rentals
One building’s story of the impact of short-term rentals
Plus a round-up of the latest food news
Geoff Sharpe
October 20, 2023
Good morning,
Remember on Wednesday when I talked about the odd tweet from Coun. Peter Meiszner, who said London Drugs was closing because of shoplifting? Well, it turns out it was an unfounded rumour, and London Drugs’ COO says no such thing is happening.
It’s always important to verify before tweeting. Or do what I do, and just post about how much you love movies!
A scheduling note — I try to keep the newsletter on a consistent schedule, but will be publishing Monday’s later in the day due to a scheduling issue. Fear not, it will arrive in your inboxes, just later in the day.
In today’s newsletter:
🏢 A building’s problems with Airbnb
🚗 Multiple car crashes
📅 A round-up of the latest Vancouver food news
Let’s get into it.
— Geoff Sharpe, Vancity newsletter writer
HOUSING
One building’s story of the impact of short-term rentals
What happened: A story about one building’s problem with Airbnb illustrates the challenges that come with short-term rentals as people begin to react to the province's recently-announced rule changes according to the Vancouver Sun.
Back-up: For those who missed out, we published an Insider Bulletin breaking down the Airbnb crackdown, which gets into the rule changes.
How bad is it: The story describes a litany of problems in one building that allows Airbnb, at the Firenze in Crosstown. One-third of the building’s units have Airbnb licences, and residents describe a chaotic situation of people leaving garbage, noise disturbances and crowds of people.
Factions have developed between those who live there and those who rent out their units.
The problem: The new rules from the province would not stop this type of activity, assuming people live in their residence full time. The strata could ban Airbnbs, but that requires two-thirds of residents to vote in favour, which is unlikely given many of the residents offer short term rentals.
Zoom out: Vancouver has lost 1,500 hotel rooms since 2010 according to CityNews. Destination Vancouver estimates the city needs an additional 10,000 hotel rooms by 2050 to keep up with expected demand, CityNews reported. Short-term rentals have rushed in to fill the demand.
What it means: In a city with such expensive housing, it’s natural for residents to turn to tools like Airbnb to make extra money. But what is clear is that more balance is needed. Placing limitations on the number of nights rentals are allowed per year could’ve been one option. The real challenge will be rooting out investors who do not actually live in the property, and that will require proper enforcement which the province has yet to detail.
Looking ahead: The problem is only going to get worse. With major events like the World Cup in 2026, the demand for spaces, and local residents meeting that demand through short-term rentals, is likely to get only worse.
Thought-bubble: Here’s a word of advice to Airbnb owners who are complaining about their investment — maybe don’t complain about your “investment” property when the rest of us are struggling to purchase any home. Plus, investments carry serious risks. Just ask anyone who invests in the stock market, they aren’t asking for any bailout…
VANCOUVER NUMBERS
💰 $33,000: The median cost per year of a one-bedroom unit in Vancouver. Yikes. [Urbanized]
🤕 3: The number of people injured when the Granville SkyTrain station malfunctioned back in September. There was no information on how serious the injuries were. [CityNews]
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THE AGENDA
🚗 A driver went over the sidewalk on East Hastings and hit and killed a pedestrian in the Downtown Eastside on Thursday morning. No other details have been provided. [CBC]
😠 A confrontation in downtown Vancouver between a pedestrian and a driver resulted in the driver intentionally hitting the pedestrian with his truck. The person is in hospital but is expected to recover, while the driver is expected to be charged. [Global News]
⛴️ It wouldn’t be an edition of the newsletter without a story about BC Ferries problems… Massive sailing delays occurred on Wednesday due to a crew shortage. [Vancouver is Awesome]
🌏 Did you crouch under a table yesterday? If you did, you participated in the ShakeOut, a drill to practice what you should do during an earthquake. [CityNews]
🤑 It’s not only normal real estate sales suffering. The luxury real estate market, with homes sold for over $4 million, is also suffering, with an 18 percent decline in sales in the first half of 2023. [Business in Vancouver]
🗳️ Workers at Amazon facilities in Metro Vancouver could soon be unionized, with Unifor launching a unionization drive at the facilities. Amazon has historically opposed any unionization efforts. [Unifor]
🚽 Council approved asking the provincial government to provide funding to keep public washrooms opens in the Downtown Eastside at a council meeting this week. [CTV]
👍 A tentative deal was agreed between the Teaching Support Staff Union and SFU, which has been going on since July. Specific details are scarce, but a plan to give workers a pension, wage increases and a new compensation model. [CTV]
🌧️ The atmospheric river wasn’t as bad as expected, with rainfall warnings lifting as of yesterday. [North Shore News]
WEEKEND GUIDE
Art Battle Vancouver | The Red Room | This Saturday, 6 pm-10 pm | Artist versus artist, who will be victorious. Come vote on the winner and potentially purchase the art! | Tickets $22
Acrylic Pouring Class: Experiment with Colours | The Wolf & Hound | This Saturday, 2 pm-3:30 pm | Create a unique painting with swirling colours and learn new techniques. All supplies provided | Tickets $52
Flavour Camp: American Whiskey Tasting | Suite Genius, 225 West 8th Ave. | This Saturday, 12 pm or 5 pm | A curated tasting of eight different whiskeys with distinct flavour profiles | Tickets $59
Cooking Vancouver's Best - Chef Valentine | Eden West Gourmet | This Saturday, 6 pm-9 pm | Come make moules coquotte, lamb popsicles with curry cream and more | Tickets $134
Chinese School | Chinatown Plaza Mall | This Saturday, 2 pm-4 pm | Come learn Chinese language and phrases centred around good, plus buy some lunch from local vendors | Free
BC Beer Awards and Festival | Croatian Cultural Centre | This Saturday, 4 pm-9 pm | Come try some beer, cider and non-alcoholic options, tickets include two drinks and tasting glass, and food trucks | Tickets $65
2023 Pumpkin Patch Festival | 9832 Ladner Trunk Rd. Delta | Pumpkin-themed activities for your family! Market pop-ups, food trucks, wagon ride, face painting and many pumpkin activities | Free
Shakespeare’s The Tempest | Studio 58, Langara College | Now until Sunday, 7:30 pm | Come see the student performance of Shakespeare’s famous play | Tickets $22
MEC x POW Season Opener 2023 | MEC Vancouver | Sunday, 7:30 pm-10:30 pm | Come see some films, chat with athletes, win some prizes and have some beer! | Tickets $22
Getting More From Your Meat: A Chicken Butchery Class | Two Rivers Meats | This Sunday, 6 pm-9 pm A hands-on class of learning how to cut and use the whole chicken | Tickets $54
Portobello West Roundhouse Holiday Market 2023 | Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre | Sat and Sun, Nov. 25- 26 10 am-5 pm | Portobello West Roundhouse Holiday Market returns with 65+ local BC artists, designers, producers of fashion, jewelry, art, home decor, skincare, pet accessories, gourmet treats, and more | Tickets $5 adults and kids free
FOOD
A hidden gem, a soup to die for, and shrimp cake I’ll always remember
Geoff Sharpe/Vancity Lookout
The French influence goes without saying. From Banh Mi French bread to the prevalence of milk compared to other Asian cultures, its uniqueness is in how it combines everything together. As noted by cookbook author Nicole Routhier, Chinese cuisine also had a huge influence.
If you’ve lived in Vancouver, you’ve most likely been to Anh and Chi. The popular spot sports lines out the door every time I rode by on the bus.
Insider tip: Anh and Chi is worth visiting. But you will have to wait, so try and get there early.
But what interests me about Vietnamese restaurants, and Vancouver restaurants in general, is not the popular spots, but the prevalence of small mom-and-pop shops, without the fancy interiors, long lines, or catering to tourists. The places that you have to work to find, or stumble across randomly while walking down a street.
So I’m beginning with what I hope is an ongoing series for Insiders featuring some less well-known restaurants, places that you might call hidden gems. These are restaurants that aren’t featured on Daily Hive, or in Michelin guides. Rather, they’re serving good food, at an affordable price. A place you could stop in for a quick lunch and leave feeling surprised and satisfied. And you’ll feel good supporting them because it’s a family-run establishment.
Luckily the very first place I visited fit this criteria perfectly.
Other food news
1️⃣ Congrats to the team at Wild Blue who won Gold at Canada’s Great Kitchen Party. You can see all the winners here. [Scout Magazine]
🥐 Get in on the upcoming Croissant Crawl this November with two dozen different special croissants around town. Some of these look downright incredible. [Georgia Straight]
🍩 Korean cream donuts sound great and you can get them over at Unni Pastries on Robson. [Noms Magazine]
📅 The dates for Dine Out Vancouver, the popular food event, have been announced. You can get your fill on affordable meals from Jan. 17 to Feb. 4.
🇵🇭 This is a great story on a little pop-up Filipino event series called Kada. [Vancouver is Awesome]
SURVEY
Lookout readers had mixed opinions on controversial ad
We asked readers on Wednesday to weigh in on an ad from the RCMP that caused an online storm over who is to blame for road safety. You can see the ad here.
Here’s the breakdown of what you said:
It brings up important issues around road safety - 45%
It’s a tone-deaf ad that misunderstands who’s to blame - 28%
It’s a non-issue and blown out of proportion - 16%
Other - 11%
Here’s what some readers said:
Reader: Everyone is responsible for their own safety, including pedestrians. A person knowingly walking in front of a car running a red light is just as responsible for their injuries.
Geoff: Yes, but to be clear so there’s no misunderstanding, it wasn’t a red light in the ad, it was a pedestrian light that was activated and the pedestrian had the right of way, not the car, which would’ve blown through the light. One person was engaging in an illegal activity — the driver who used their phone while driving — while the other was following all road safety laws.
Reader: As a driver (not on the cell phone) I find myself often having a difficult time seeing some pedestrians on dark rainy nights. If they are backlit from moving traffic and wearing all dark colours that makes it worse. Vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, motorbike riders, scooters etc...we all need to be obeying traffic rules
Geoff: The difficulty seeing is a great point. Neighbourhoods need visible lighting, especially on busy roads. It’s an infrastructure issue the city could tackle.
Reader: When I was a Vancouver Medical Health Officer, we worked with the City and the VPD to promote pedestrian safety. One of the important elements was the reality of the imbalance between vehicle and pedestrians/cyclists. Either party may be guilty of an offence, but, almost always, only the vehicle is guilty of injuring or killing. The onus must always be on the driver, but errors will always happen, so we need to design our speed limits and streets so crashes are less likely and less likely to injure when they do happen. In Montreal, for example, all downtown traffic lights start with a “straight ahead green arrow,” to give pedestrians time to get at least half way across the street before right hand turns are allowed. As well, there are no right turn on red lights permitted in the city, anywhere.
Geoff: This is a very well thought out response, and I admit, how I view the issue as well. While both should be aware, one could kill the other and not vice versa. Some great changes mentioned by the reader here that could help save lives.
COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS
This is a lovely story about a skate community over at Britannia Community Centre. [Georgia Straight]
Popular TV show North Shore Rescue is returning for a second season. Pity the poor hikers who get featured! [North Shore News]
The GoFundMe for the Chinatown stabbing victims managed to raise $30,000, which blew past their goal of $15,000. [CityNews]
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TOP PHOTO
It’s beginning to look a lot like fall!
GAME TIME
Congrats to Warren, Moira Steven, Linda, Jai Djwa and Todd Hauptman who all correctly guessed the Vancouver Guesser spot which was Broadway and Commercial Drive.
Today’s game is Vancouver Wordle. Think you can guess the word? Play now.
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