Tag Archives: airbnb

Airbnbs and Vrbo rentals are now limited in Waterloo

Host: Leah Gerber

Short term rentals such as Airbnb or Vrbo rentals will now be limited to an owner’s principal residence in Waterloo. Waterloo city council voted unanimously earlier this month to this change as a response to complaints from neighbours about the rental units as well as to the ongoing housing crisis.

Radio Waterloo spoke with Waterloo mayor Dorothy McCabe for the reasoning for this change, as well as City of Kitchener Manager of Licensing Kristin VanDerGeld to ask if Kitchener staff and council are planning a similar move. 

Mayor McCabe said that city staff and council understand that people use short term rentals to supplement their income. She said that she still supports people doing this, but they need to do it in their primary residence, and that this move is an effort to find a balance so that other residents are not negatively impacted by someone’s rental property.

CKMS News – 2021-08-11 – Impacts on housing affordability – Short term rentals and “bandit signs” in Waterloo Region

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Host: Trish Holmes

This episode of CKMS News examines the growing number of short-term rentals (e.g., AirBnB) in Waterloo Region and the impact of this on our long-term rental housing market and the need for data collection specifically targeted to gather information about the housing stock.  We talk to the Waterloo By law office and a Kitchener City Councillor about lack of regulations and the lack of data.

The episode also explores the bandit signs advertising house buying, that are illegally displayed alongside roads and high traffic areas throughout our Region. We talk to the Kitchener bylaw office about the signs and what can be done about them.


This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.

Check out the archived versions of  this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.

You can  follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca