Short-Term Rental Enforcement Fund

On this page

• About the Short-Term Rental Enforcement Fund
• Funded projects
• Program details
• Applicant guide
• Contact us

About the Short-Term Rental Enforcement Fund

Canada needs more long-term housing, and the federal government is taking action to crack down on non-compliant short-term rentals which are keeping homes off the market across the country.

In 2023, the Government of Canada's Fall Economic Statement proposed $50 million over three years, starting in 2024-25, to launch a Short-Term Rental Enforcement Fund (STREF). This commitment was also reiterated in Budget 2024. The STREF is one measure in the whole-of-government approach to addressing housing challenges, as outlined in Canada's Housing Plan.

The STREF aims to limit short-term rentals that take away units from the long-term housing market across the country. The program provides grant funding to municipalities and Indigenous communities with existing strict regulatory regimes to support the local enforcement of short-term rental restrictions in an effort to make more long-term housing units available in Canada.

Funded projects

Following a call for proposals, the successful applicants listed below will receive funding for their projects under the STREF program:

• City of Vancouver, British Columbia
• City of Victoria, British Columbia
• District of West Vancouver, British Columbia
• Tsawwassen First Nation, British Columbia
• Town of Canmore, Alberta
• Town of Hinton, Alberta
• City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
• City of Winnipeg, Manitoba
• City of Burlington, Ontario
• City of Hamilton, Ontario
• City of Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
• City of London, Ontario
• City of Mississauga, Ontario
• City of Ottawa, Ontario
• City of Toronto, Ontario
• Town of Oakville, Ontario
• Tourism PEI, Prince Edward Island
• Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

Note: Applicants’ projects in Quebec are currently in negotiation.

Program details

In recent years, short-term rental activity has been increasing across Canada, with the loss of long-term units contributing to the housing shortage. The STREF, delivered through Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities Canada (HICC), is designed to support municipal and Indigenous community enforcement of existing restrictions on short-term rentals.

The call for proposals for the STREF closed on January 24, 2025.

Funding

The STREF is delivering one-time grant funding.

The maximum duration of grant agreements for selected projects funded under the STREF is until March 31, 2027.

The maximum level of financial support approved per project will not exceed $4.8 million over three years. The minimum funding allocation in year one is $100,000, to ensure applicants with smaller populations can cover the higher costs associated with the planned enforcement and compliance activities in their jurisdiction. 

Eligible applicants

The STREF was open to the following eligible applicants: municipalities (including upper-tier municipalities, which are formed by two or more municipalities within its boundaries) and Indigenous communities with strict regulatory regimes that could have an impact on protecting units in the long-term housing market, and on short-term rental activity and related enforcement and compliance challenges.

Applicants needed to have an existing strict short-term rental regulatory regime in place defined as including, at minimum:

• An existing principal residence requirement limiting short-term rental operation to principal residences and a licensing system for short-term rental operators;
• An enforcement and compliance program for their short-term rental regulatory regime, or a commitment to implement one; and,
• One additional existing regulation from this list:
• Short-term rental licensing/registration process requiring a proof of consent from condo corporation/strata and property owners for a unit to be used as short-term rental
• Spatial rules, quotas or moratoriums to restrict short-term rentals to specific zones, neighbourhoods or blocks, limit the number of units within those zones, neighbourhoods or blocks, as well as suspend or restrict issuing of short-term rental licenses
• Enforcing a night cap on bookings to restrict the maximum number of consecutive days that a unit can be rented and/or the total number of days per year that a unit can be rented as a short-term rental
• Establishing accountability measures for platforms, including mandating short-term rental platforms to obtain a license to operate, to share data with enforcement personnel or to remove non-compliant listings

Note: Only provinces and territories playing a primary role in enforcement of regulations were eligible to apply at the request and on behalf of eligible municipalities.

Eligible activities

The STREF supports activities designed to strengthen the municipalities and communities' regulatory regimes to address and reverse housing loss induced by short-term rentals. This includes:

• Activities designed to support the planning, implementation, enhancement, and review of short‑term rental enforcement and compliance measures, such as:
• Raising awareness and educating the public
• Managing complaint systems
• Managing licensing, permitting, or registration systems
• Conducting investigations and inspections
• Issuing warnings, bylaw offence notices, or tickets
• Supporting legal proceedings
• Activities designed to increase short-term rental enforcement and compliance capacity, such as:
• Procuring or developing software and digital tools
• Procuring identification, monitoring, and compliance processes from compliance companies
• Recruiting additional enforcement and compliance personnel
• Providing staff training
• Developing, testing, and scaling new innovative tools, resources, and processes
• Developing partnerships and agreements, including with other levels of government and short-term rental platforms
• Creating and implementing an evaluation framework
• Creating and implementing a monitoring and performance measurement framework
• Conducting research and analysis on short-term rental enforcement
• Building and disseminating knowledge on short-term rental enforcement
• Other activities, as approved by HICC on a case-by-case basis, to meet the objectives of the STREF program.

Eligible costs

The STREF funding supports up to 100% of total eligible costs considered by HICC to be direct and necessary for the successful implementation of an eligible project, and no more than $4.8 million over the three years of the program per applicant jurisdiction, such as: 

• Wages and mandatory employment related costs for project staff
• Staff training and professional development costs
• Procurement of enforcement and compliance services
• Professional fees, including researchers and information technology (IT) providers
• Capital costs such as software, IT supplies, and solutions
• Overhead costs up to a maximum of 7% of total project expenses, that are central to the recipient's operations and directly related to support eligible activities as outlined in the Funding Agreement (i.e., postage, telephones, IT maintenance, and head office support)
• Printing and communication
• Transportation costs associated with investigations of suspected non-compliant short-term rentals
• Translation, including to Indigenous languages

Applicant Guide

The call for proposals is now closed. Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada thanks all applicants for their interest.

The Applicant Guide is available for reference.

Contact us

For questions, please contact the STREF team at the following address: stref-farlcd@infc.gc.ca.