Airbnb is clamping down on unauthorized party house rentals by prohibiting Canadian guests under 25 years old from renting entire homes in their own communities — the kind of short-term rentals that have been connected to violent incidents such as Friday’s shooting that killed three men and injured two others in a 32nd-storey downtown Toronto condo.

The policy that takes effect this month will apply only in Canada for the time being. Those under 25 who have already rented at least three times on Airbnb and received favourable reviews won’t be restricted. All guests under 25 will still be allowed to rent homes in other cities and countries and they can continue to rent hotel rooms and private rooms in an Airbnb home that is being hosted by the principal resident.

Airbnb also announced a neighbourhood hotline to respond to residents’ concerns — the first to be installed outside the U.S. — and a donation of $300,000 over three years to Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns, a group that raises awareness of the public health impacts of gun violence.

The measures were announced in Toronto Wednesday by Airbnb’s San Francisco-based vice-president of policy and communications Chris Lehane. He said it was a responsible step by a company that bases its business model on community and trust.

But Toronto’s mayor and Airbnb critics said the company’s commitment falls short because Airbnb refuses to comply immediately with the city’s short-term rental bylaw that won’t be fully implemented until later this year. The new rules would prohibit landlords from renting homes where nobody lives — properties that are used exclusively as short-term rentals. Approved in December 2017, the bylaw has been stalled by landlords’ legal challenges.

Abiding by those rules immediately would make “a significant contribution to cutting down the type of dangerous activities we have seen,” said Mayor John Tory in a statement.

Fairbnb, a coalition of residents, academics, tenant advocates and hoteliers, said it was disappointed that Airbnb failed to remove about 9,700 listings in Toronto that Fairbnb says would be illegal under the bylaw. It estimates that $167 million — 73 per cent of Airbnb’s revenue in Toronto — is generated by professional short-term rental hosts who don’t live in the properties they are renting out — a practise that removes homes from the city’s long-term stock and drives up real estate prices.

“They missed an opportunity to address Toronto’s housing crisis, to address concerns residential communities have and to remove ghost hotels from Toronto,” spokesperson Thorben Wieditz said. “They fail to understand that housing is a key determinant of public health. Their announcements just ring hollow.”

Lehane said Airbnb supports Toronto’s regulations and will comply when the rules come online.

“The regulations have been passed but they have yet to be implemented. Our commitment is to working with the city when those regulations come into place so we can implement them,” he said.

Meantime, he said the company’s new security measures to reduce violent and gun-related incidents won’t be foolproof. Some people will find ways around the age-based restrictions. But, he said, Airbnb has an increasingly sophisticated screening process.

“We have algorithms. There’s a lot of information you are required to provide before you can come on Airbnb as either a guest or a host and those are getting smarter every single day,” he said.

Airbnb has a .03 per cent incident rate when it comes to issues involving property damage and .06 per cent for security issues across the entire platform. But those numbers get higher in that younger demographic for unhosted homes in the guest’s own community, Lehane said. He did not provide specifics but said the difference was significant.

“Our research shows that it is a cohort that over-indexes when it comes to issues related to so-called unauthorized party houses. The research makes really clear that we can take a step in terms of addressing that by doing that type of prohibition,” he said.

The company won’t disclose the geographic radius that determines the community in which a guest under-25 renter is prohibited from renting an entire home. The platform’s technology would flag someone who repeatedly tries to rent beyond the virtual boundary and the distance would be sufficient to discourage an unauthorized party from moving to a neighbouring community, Lehane said.

The number for the 24-7 neighbourhood support phone line in Canada will be published Monday at airbnb.ca/neighbours. A French-language line will be introduced later this year. The first of its kind outside the U.S., the hotline will be answered by someone who can respond appropriately to complaints, including contacting municipal officials or police.

The Canadian measures, designed to reduce “unauthorized parties,” are in addition to a global party house ban the company announced on Nov. 2 in the wake of five deaths at a Halloween party at a rental in Orinda, Calif. Airbnb says some listings have been eliminated in major Canadian cities as a result of that ban.

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Dr. Najma Ahmed, a trauma surgeon and co-founder of Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns, said the announcement demonstrates Airbnb’s commitment to Toronto neighbourhoods.

“Our gun fatality rates in Canada are about five times less than in the U.S. However they are also five times greater than the United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands. So compared to the other economically developed countries of the world Canada has a problem,” she said.