Housing Affordability and Availability
We’re rezoning the province to make it easier to build more homes faster. From increased density near transit where people need it, to making it legal to build more than one home on a single family lot, builders big and small will find easier, faster processes to build the homes we need. That’s why we’re second in Canada in new homes per capita, building more rental housing than anywhere in Canada (including 4x as many rental homes as Ontario), and continuing to set new levels for homebuilding despite record high interest rate increases from the Bank of Canada that has paralyzed builders across the country. Disturbingly, the BC Conservatives have said they’re opposed to these measures, saying that if they’re elected, they’ll let public hearings at the local government level on a project-by-project basis wrap up new home construction in endless and costly processes. We can’t afford that approach – it’ll make homes even more expensive and harder to build. As we build, rents are starting to come down – 7% in Vancouver, 11% in North Vancouver and across the province. Our approach is working, and we know the answer is in building more, not making it harder to get homes across the line.
– British Columbia New Democratic Party
Coming Soon
– Conservative Party of British Columbia
Coming Soon
– Green Party of British Columbia
There’s just two measurements, the cost of rents and the cost of housing compared to incomes. As we build, rents are starting to come down – 7% in Vancouver, 11% in North Vancouver with similar decreases in centres across the province. There are some exceptions, which is why we need to keep working to deliver even more housing. Home prices for purchase remain stubbornly high, but are coming down slightly largely due to interest rate costs imposed by the Bank of Canada. That’s not real affordability impact. To get at housing affordability we need our June reforms to municipal bylaws to allow more homes to be built faster to set homebuilders free to build what needs to get done across the province. These reforms mean townhomes, and affordable multi-unit residences in established neighbourhoods, can be built quickly. Faster building will help middle class families find a foothold in the market without waiting years for a permit to build as costs skyrocket. We’re also using public land through BC Builds to build attainable middle-income housing by helping control the cost of land, partnering with private builders to get units up quickly. John Rustad has a 20-year record of defending the status quo on housing. When asked what of our housing plan he’d keep, he said “not much.” That’s good news for real estate speculators as our population balloons and people search for limited housing and wait for endless municipal processes to approve the housing we know we need, but it’s very bad news for the rest of us. Let’s keep taking action on housing and build a future where everyone can afford to live here.
– British Columbia New Democratic Party
Coming Soon
– Conservative Party of British Columbia
Coming Soon
– Green Party of British Columbia
Yes. We are digitizing and standardizing local permit processes to make it easier and faster for homeowners and industry professionals to submit applications to local governments and First Nations. The Building Permit Hub is the next step in our work to speed up homebuilding and reduce the costs of housing, and meet the Province’s goal for British Columbia to become a North American leader in digital permitting and construction. We have heard from industry, local governments and First Nations that some of the biggest challenges with the local building-permit submission process are incomplete applications, inconsistent submission requirements from one community to another and different interpretations of compliance with BC Building Code requirements. These problems contribute to costly delays to building new homes for people. The Building Permit Hub addresses these challenges by offering a one-stop, simplified process, resulting in faster processing and review times. Builders submit their permit applications online in the hub, which will:
- standardize building-permit submission requirements across jurisdictions in B.C.;
- automatically check that the permit application is complete; and
- automatically check compliance with key parts of the BC Building Code.
– British Columbia New Democratic Party
Coming Soon
– Conservative Party of British Columbia
Coming Soon
– Green Party of British Columbia