Toronto residents held a mock funeral procession through the streets of Kensington Market to protest the proliferation of short-term rentals in the area, which they say is pushing out long-term residents and threatening their community.

Approximately 20 people, some wearing black, participated in the “Requiem for Rental Housing” protest on Saturday to call attention to how the increase in short-term rentals, like the popular site Airbnb, has been forcing out renters from the neighbourhood as landlords try to cash in.

“We are concerned about the way this removes apartment units from the rental markets,” said Dominique Russell, chair of Friends of Kensington Market, who organized the event, which included pallbearers holding a coffin. “It’s partly about losing affordable rent, but it’s also about losing neighbourhoods, and losing neighbours and community,” she said.

The use of short-term rentals like Airbnb has become increasingly contentious, more so recently, as a tough housing market has made it difficult to rent, buy and afford homes in the city.

Fairbnb, a coalition of labour, tenant and resident groups, says their analysis showed that Airbnb had 138 active listings in Kensington in April.

“Some of the hosts are problematic, because they run multiple listings, who run a hostel-type of situation,” said Thorben Wieditz, a researcher with Unite Here Local 75, who said their analysis looked at both Kensington Market and Chinatown. “Or they are people who have homes, where they list entire homes for tourists, but take it off the rental market,” he said.

“I think people realize they can make a lot of money off of tourists,” he said, adding that their research has shown that Kensington Market is the fourth most popular Airbnb listing in Toronto, after the waterfront, Church St. and Liberty Village. “Free market is fine, but there should be some checks and balances,” he said.

The city of Toronto is developing regulations on short-term rentals in the city.

In January 2016, council asked staff to research and develop potential regulations for short-term rentals. According to data shared with the city by Airbnb, there were more than 16,000 Toronto listings on Airbnb in 2016. Ninety seven per cent of the bookings were for a stay that lasted less than 30 days.

Twenty-four per cent of these short-term rentals took place in a house, while 69 per cent occurred in condominiums and apartment buildings.

Local resident Adrienne Stanton says the unique atmosphere of Kensington Market has made it popular among out-of-towners coming to the city for a short stay — to the detriment of local residents.

“People are being evicted and houses are being bought and sold for short-term rental purposes,” she said, adding that the neighbourhood has become more of a tourist destination and losing the authentic community feel, noticeable by the change from family-run stores to more tourist-type eateries in the area.

“It’s completely changing the neighbourhood, and not for the better,” she said, adding that some homes in the area have become “ghost hotels,” which remain empty except when rented out for short-term rentals.

Richard Underhill, who has lived in the area for 17 years, said there needs to be a balance, and regulation to “manage the gentrification” of the area.

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Staff will present the proposed regulations to Mayor John Tory’s executive committee on June 19.