Rohana Rezel: “Overall, it will help citizens have a clear understanding of who is hosting what and where”
Airbnb is challenging a decision by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia that ordered the City of Vancouver to release the names, addresses and business license data of short-term rental hosts to an activist in the accommodation.
The online rental giant filed a motion for judicial review on January 28 in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in an attempt to overturn a December decision by Elizabeth Barker of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. British Columbia Privacy Shield to disclose the information.
Barker ruled that names, addresses and business license details held by Airbnb and other short-term rental hosts do not constitute personal information and should be disclosed to the plaintiff, who is referred to as “John Doe” in the document. ; Rohana Rezel has since publicly declared himself to be the plaintiff.
“Just because a location is a home doesn’t mean it can’t also be a business if the context reveals that’s how it’s used,” said Barker, director of the office arbitration.
“In this case, the addresses are those where [short-term rental] operators’ customers come to receive the services they have paid for [short-term rental] operator to provide.
“Harass, threaten or abuse”
Airbnb, a company established under the laws of the Republic of Ireland, has entered into an agreement with the city to privately share data about its hosts in order to administer, enforce and refine the rental regulations in short term from Vancouver.
The company argued in its motion that Barker’s decision, which could see several thousand names published, was unreasonable and should be overturned.
“If the decision is not overturned, the applicant can be expected to publish the information widely, and any number of individuals will be able to use the information to harass, threaten or abuse the [short-term rental] operators, and locate or attend to their homes,” the petition reads.
The city publicly discloses information on its “open data portal” about all types of business licenses it issues. The information listed for most companies includes the licensee’s name and the company’s address.
However, while the city publishes short-term rental information on the portal, it does not release the names or addresses of operators, citing privacy and security concerns.
Airbnb is the largest of several platforms offering short-term rentals in Vancouver and accounts for at least 82% of all active listings, according to the city. The second largest platform is Expedia (including VRBO), followed by Flipkey, which is owned by TripAdvisor.
The city’s website says that as of January 6, 2022, there were 2,364 short-term rental listings in Vancouver — a significant drop from nearly 6,000 listed in January 2020, as the pandemic likely contributed to the decrease.
“Perhaps unreasonable or misinformed”
The city’s communications department said in an email Tuesday that because the matter is on appeal and in court, the city will not release the information Barker ordered.
In the proceedings before Barker, the city said that disclosure of the information in dispute could reasonably threaten the safety or mental or physical health of the short-term rental operators or their guests.
Barker said it was evident that Twitter and online media are popular platforms for public expression and airing of criticism and concern. She noted some of what has been said on these platforms about short-term rentals and Airbnb being “harsh, sarcastic, and possibly unreasonable or misinformed.”
But Barker said “the tweets and media articles do not, in my view, even rise to the level of a reasonable expectation of threatening or endangering life, physical safety, physical health or anyone’s mind”.
She did, however, exclude data associated with a case where an Airbnb operator was harassed.
In an email exchange this week, Rezel said several studies have shown that Airbnb contributes to the housing shortage by removing long-term rentals from the market. He noted that the housing situation in Vancouver is already dire, with one in five people paying more than half their income in rent.
“In the meantime, there have been numerous court cases and rulings from the residential rental industry that have shown tenants being evicted to make way for Airbnbs,” said Rezel, who described Barker’s decision as a “major victory” for citizens affected by the short term. rental operations in Vancouver.
“The data I sought would help monitor Airbnb operations in the city and help the public identify the extent of damage caused by short-term rentals.”
Additionally, he said, the data will help renters determine whether their landlords turned their homes into Airbnbs after evicting them, and help people living in condos uncover illegal short-term rentals.
“Overall, this will help citizens have a clear understanding of who is hosting what and where,” said Rezel, whose years-long fight with the city via Freedom of Information Act requests and privacy concerns led to Barker’s decision.
“A multi-billion dollar predatory corporation”
Rezel balked at arguments from Airbnb and the city that he and other housing activists are critical of Airbnb and the city’s enforcement shortcomings posed a danger to the physical safety of rental hosts and guests. short term.
“The city came to this conclusion based on our social media posts that Airbnb collected and compiled into a filing, potentially in violation of British Columbia privacy laws,” he said. .
“It defies belief that the city would describe us as ‘violent’ for simply pointing out how a predatory, multi-billion dollar corporation was exacerbating our city’s already crippling housing crisis.”
The city began regulating short-term rentals in April 2018.
Under the regulations, a person who provides temporary accommodation in a housing unit other than a bed and breakfast or hotel is considered a short-term rental operator and is required to obtain an operating licence.
Accommodation must be provided in the operator’s principal residence. The regulations state that an operator can rent out their entire house, or a room in that house, for less than 30 consecutive days.
The city’s website says 869 business licenses have been suspended since the bylaw was enacted in 2018. In addition, more than 1,400 warning letters and 1,596 tickets have been issued, and 173 listings have been prosecuted. .
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