B.C. short-term rental restrictions reducing rents, saving tenants millions:

Crackdowns on short-term rentals in British Columbia have effectively reduced rents by 5.7 percent, saving tenants more than $600 million last year, says a report led by the Canada Research Chair in Urban Governance at McGill University.
That figure is the result of municipal restrictions, in particular requirements that short-term rental units must be located within the operator’s principal residence.
In Vancouver, for example, the report says renters are paying an average of $147 less each month than they would have without the city’s principal residence rule. The report, led by research chair David Wachsmuth, says the recent province-wide regulation for communities with more than 10,000 residents has the power to carry similar savings across B.C., helping to ease affordability challenges. Source:bc.ctvnews.ca/