Gordon Coleman and his family have lived in a four-storey condo building in the Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood for two decades. He says he hopes his building is one day demolished and replaced with something taller since its an ideal place for greater residential density.Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
As provincial governments across Canada struggle to bring down the cost of housing and increase its availability, British Columbia, where some of the country’s least affordable housing markets are concentrated, has spent the past year making a series of major policy changes aimed at getting people into homes.
The province’s NDP government has set housing targets, and moved to require municipal governments to meet them. It has put in place measures to ensure major transit nodes become dense neighbourhoods, and created a series of preapproved home designs that builders can use to construct four-unit multiplexes with relative ease. And it has done away with time-consuming public hearings on building projects that conform with cities’ official community plans.
These are just a few among 22 housing-related announcements and legislative actions by the province in the past year – most in the past two months, many of which have passed in the legislature quickly, with little debate. The breakneck pace of housing reform in B.C. has far outstripped efforts by other provinces and the federal government.
But while B.C.’s efforts have been lauded by some observers for tackling the housing crisis head on, the flurry of changes has provoked concerns among others, who worry the dramatic shift will have unintended consequences.
Those who praise the government’s efforts include academics, housing experts and developers.
“They’re far ahead of anyone else when it comes to ambition and policy seriousness,” said Mike Moffatt, a Western University economics professor and senior director at the Smart Prosperity Institute, who recently co-authored a report on how to tackle Canada’s rental-housing shortage. “What impresses me the most is that they recognize there’s no one silver bullet. The entire package is impressive.”
Murtaza Haider, a Toronto Metropolitan University professor who specializes in data science and real estate management, said B.C. is doing everything it can to squeeze room out of existing housing while it works on getting new homes built in future years.
Anne McMullin, the chief executive officer of B.C.’s Urban Development Institute, which represents builders, was similarly effusive. “We have not seen this kind of fundamental change for decades,” she said.
Even some B.C. residents say they are excited about the potential arrival of new kinds of housing.
In Vancouver, where Gordon Coleman and his family have lived in a four-storey condo building on West Broadway in the city’s Kitsilano neighbourhood for two decades, Mr. Coleman said he hopes his building is one day demolished and replaced with something taller. It’s within 800 metres of the Arbutus station that is now under construction, making it an ideal place for greater residential density.
He worries, though, that a wave of development would mean losing some beloved neighbourhood businesses.
“But I want my children to have a place to live,” he said. He believes the only way his teenage boys will be able to stay in Vancouver is if there is a massive increase in housing supply, and a resulting levelling out of housing prices.
An equally broad range of observers are concerned about possible negative consequences from the province’s rapid changes.
Among them is former NDP premier Mike Harcourt, who has blasted the government’s plans, especially for dense housing near transit, saying they are “arbitrary, top-down changes in local zoning and development controls” that will threaten existing low-cost apartments, heritage areas and overall regional planning.
Trish Mandewo, president of the Union of B.C. Municipalities, which represents cities in the province, has said that although civic politicians welcome housing reforms, the province’s efforts have been a mixed bag.
In, October, she noted, the B.C. government announced that it would prohibit short-term rentals in investment properties. With few exceptions, such rentals will be allowed only in people’s principal residences.
Ms. Mandewo said this has produced positive changes, particularly in Victoria, where investors have already started putting their condos up for sale, somewhat easing conditions in the tight local housing market.
But, she said, government proposals aimed at dramatically increasing density were created unilaterally, without any consultation with cities.
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“Our members are concerned these pieces are not quite thought through. We’re hearing about a risk of displacement,” she said, referencing fears that renters in older apartment buildings and houses could be ousted in favour of new development.
The provincial government has not said what measures, if any, cities will be allowed to put in place in order to make sure renters are compensated if their buildings are redeveloped.
It’s also not clear how cities will pay for the infrastructure that needs to go along with new development, such as sewers, water service, roads, parks, hospitals, schools and libraries.
Garnet Harry, who has lived for a quarter century in a house 450 metres from the Kootenay Loop, a major bus loop in east Vancouver, said he is alarmed about the possible consequences of development, though he added that he is not opposed to change.
“I just don’t think the infrastructure is here. This neighbourhood will get ruined,” he said.
Vancouver city councillor Pete Fry said he is particularly concerned about one piece of proposed legislation intended to standardize the fees developers pay to governments. It will, in effect, prohibit cities from using this money for affordable housing.
“That’s a big flag for me,” he said. In 2022, the city allocated $32-million to affordable housing out of the $219-million it collected in these fees.
West Vancouver-Capilano MLA Karin Kirkpatrick, the housing critic for the B.C. United Party, an opposition political party in the province, said she is skeptical of the government’s approach, which she characterized as scattershot.
“You can’t do one thing at a time. It should be comprehensive,” she said. “You dump too many things at one time and it’s bound to fail.”
She said there seems to be no co-ordinated plan for improving transit, schools and infrastructure in step with the increases in population that accompany new housing development. She added that residents could end up paying a high price to make those improvements.
Even housing advocates who see positives in the province’s efforts say not enough is being done to protect renters and build social housing.
“I think what they’re doing is big, and it’s a shame this qualifies as big because there are so many gaps,” said Alexandra Flynn, director of the University of British Columbia’s Housing Research Collaborative. “It’s very market-based. We’re not approaching this as, ‘let’s get everybody housed,’ but instead, ‘let’s build a lot of housing and hope that solves the problem.’”
B.C’s annual spending on new subsidized housing has risen from $38-million to $641-million since the NDP was elected in 2017. The province budgeted $4.2-billion in 2023 for all of its housing programs.
B.C. Premier David Eby told a packed housing convention in Vancouver last month that his government of “known radicals” is going to push for even more housing-related changes in the months ahead.
And provincial Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said in an interview that he is equally resolute. He said the province’s housing actions to date are part of a strategy, and that he expects to introduce legislation in the new year to “reform Vancouver’s decision-making process” by amending the Vancouver Charter.
The province will also be kicking off its BC Builds initiative, which will focus on taking charge of new construction on vacant or underutilized properties that belong to various levels of government.
Mr. Kahlon has asked agencies and municipal politicians to contact him in September with lists of possible sites.
He acknowledged that there has been criticism of the province’s housing efforts. But, he said, “There’s a lot of young folks saying, ‘We’re feeling hopeful now.’”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the transit station close to the condo building where Gordon Coleman lives. It is within 800 metres of the Arbutus station now under construction. This version has been updated.
Frances Bula