The borough council in the Rosemont-Petite-Patrie borough has taken a step to limit the proliferation of Airbnb rental units and other tourist residences.
Council voted on Monday to only issue new permits for new tourist residences for building along a four-block stretch of St. Hubert Blvd., between Jean-Talon Blvd. and Bellechasse St. — four out of the five blocks of the popular shopping strip known as Plaza St. Hubert.
The borough says the idea is to counter what it calls a critical housing shortage in the city and the borough.
Currently, the apartment vacancy rate city-wide is somewhere around 1.5 per cent — the lowest it's been in about two decades.
"The housing crisis we're seeing now is leading us to tighten the rules of the game," borough mayor François Croteau said in a statement. "We're acting against the commercialization of housing in the borough and limiting the number of dwellings being diverted to the rental platform [Airbnb] market. Preserving out quality of life and the reputation of our district requires stronger regulation of the use of tourist residences."
Permits for apartment hotels in other parts of town will still be able to keep them for as long as the buildings function as apartment hotels.
The borough has indicated it's also looking for solutions to counter the phenomenon of so-called "renovictions" — where landlords use renovations as an excuse to displace tenants.