B.C.'s new short-term rental rules could impact organ transplant recipients, advocates say

B.C.'s new short-term rental rules officially came into effect this week and advocates say the new restrictions could have unintended impacts for those getting an organ transplant.

Jude Kornelsen, co-director of the Centre for Rural Health Research, says the province needs to consider accommodation options for those seeking care.

"We do need to facilitate making sure people can get to where the care is," she told CTV News Vancouver. "I think that's the issue at the heart of this."

The short-term rental rules, which came into play on May 1, restrict hosts to renting out space in their primary residence, as well as an additional unit, secondary suite or laneway home on the same property. The restrictions are meant to open up thousands of potential long-term housing units that are currently being offered year-round on apps such as Airbnb and VRBO.

But those coming to the Lower Mainland for a transplant can require several months of after care in the region and hotels are expensive.

In fact, the high cost of accommodation has led to drastic measures for some like Christina Derksen-Unrau. She needs a double lung transplant, but discovered she'd first have to save tens of thousands of dollars to live in Vancouver for three to six months after surgery at Vancouver General Hospital. She temporarily took herself off the transplant list because of that high cost, but has since put herself back on. 

Now, with the new short-term rental rules, rural health-care advocates are worried it'll be another barrier for those needing care. While they say they aren't against the restrictions, advocates say they'd like to see some sort of exemption for those seeking medical treatment.

"We just want to make sure that they're not faced with the choice between life and death because they don't have money," Paul Adams, executive director for B.C. Rural Health Network, told CTV News Vancouver.

The province acknowledged that some British Columbians need to travel for transplant surgery and stay in the Lower Mainland. Even so, the province said in a statement the focus has to be getting "more units back into the long-term rental market so (British Columbians) can find an affordable place to call home."

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Isabella Zavarise and Michele Brunoro