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New data shows Vancouver has more than 5,000 properties available for short-term rentals, a total called “worrisome” by the councillor spearheading the city’s efforts to tighten rules for services like Airbnb.

“I think it’s worrisome,” said Coun. Geoff Meggs of the tally of 5,000 short-term accommodations, one of the figures included in a Sunday release from the City of Vancouver. “But I’m not surprised by it.”

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“When we have the crisis that we have in housing, we can’t afford to walk past this,” Meggs said Sunday. “We are putting an enormous amount of energy to get new rental (properties) built in the city of Vancouver and requiring it to remain rental for 60 years or the life of the building. And to see that soaked up by tourism is not acceptable. We’re going to that effort so that people can live and work in the city of Vancouver.”

Sunday’s release from the city included early findings from data released by short-term rental companies, and announced that Vancouver has contracted a third-party consulting firm to examine 10 platforms providing accommodation rentals in Vancouver, including Airbnb, VRBO, OwnersDirect and Flipkey. The research is intended, the statement said, “to determine how short-term rentals are affecting the availability of rental housing for families and workers in Vancouver.”