Mayor and Council

City of Kelowna

Dear Mayor Dyas and Councillors:

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce writes today in support of taking a balanced approach through amending short term rental regulations in Kelowna which are being brought before Council for consideration on November 3, 2025.

In 2024 and throughout 2025, the Kelowna Chamber reiterated its support for amending municipal restrictions on STRs, most notably through Kelowna Chamber’s policy, “A Balanced Approach To Implementing New Short-Term Rentals Legislation” adopted by the entire BC Chamber delegation in June 2024.

Primary reasons for our asking the City of Kelowna to support the recommended changes at this time:

  1. Reduce or remove the confusion caused by the provincial Act enabling exemptions, particularly for licensed STRs and hotels in tourism/vacation-designated areas.
  2. Recommending nuances in application of provincial regulations, especially as they apply to tourist-centric areas; student housing; grandfathered/hardship applications.

The Chamber encourages the City to pursue early exemption from the province given our CMHC vacancy rate currently meeting and/or exceeding the ceiling of three per cent, and enable short-term rental capacity to be added to our existing hotel product.

This exemption needs to be in place prior to the May 2026 Memorial Cup to enable Kelowna to welcome the anticipated need for room nights in Kelowna.

In closing, we encourage Council to approve an STR Subzone, with criteria as outlined in the November 3 staff report. If Council supports this recommendation, we understand a bylaw would follow shortly for consideration.

Sincerely,

Derek Gratz

President

Kelowna Chamber of Commerce