A new report says the lack of affordable housing in BC is eroding the provincial economy and skyrocketing home prices are a source of enormous wealth inequality.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report, Building Equity: Lessons For Affordable Housing In BC, finds that though provincial the government has made significant reforms to deal with the problem, there remains a severe shortage of both non-market housing and overall housing supply.
The report calls for new public investments in affordable housing, changes to exclusionary municipal zoning, and restricting more-speculative forms of investment.
CCPA Senior economists Alex Hemmingway and Mark Lee recommend urban zoning amendments to increase construction of multiplexes and apartment buildings.
‘In the context of a housing shortage, allowing new non-market and market rental apartments is crucial, particularly in the large land areas currently reserved exclusively for expensive, low-density housing.’
Hemmingway says it’s hard for cities to justify blocking such projects given the severity of the housing crisis.
“When Vancouver or Victoria suppress housing creation in that way,” he says that it is “excluding people from the cities and helping to export the housing crisis to the rest of the province.”
Reforms in BC emphasized have supply-side solutions from the private sector, but the report finds greater investment is needed in non-market housing, with more support for the non-profit housing sector.
According to Hemmingway, “that public investment in affordable housing was cut to the bone in the 2000s by the previous BC Liberal Government. There’s been some reinvestment in recent years but that really needs to be scaled up.”
He says, where possible, “land value increases from upzoning should be used to meet affordable housing objectives, while ensuring projects remain economically viable.”
The CCPA report recommends a province-wide plan to build a quarter of a million new dedicated, non-market affordable homes over the next decade.
In return for higher density zoning that creates new market value, municipal governments should require that a percentage of units be made affordable, while ensuring it’s at levels that ensure projects remain economically viable.
Report co-author Marc Lee also says expensive housing is “eroding the core of BC’s economy.”
He adds that in recent years, “speculative behaviour from real estate investors has been top of mind as home prices rise beyond the reach of many households.”
Reforming the property tax system is recommended to reduce the extreme inequality of property wealth, raise revenue for public investments including affordable housing, and make real estate a less-lucrative target for passive, non-productive investment.
The Home Owner Grant and the Renter’s Tax Credit should be amalgamated into a single income-tested housing grant for both renters and owners, while maintaining existing provincial rental housing supports.
Other recommendations from the CCPA-BC report:
Municipalities:
-Legalize multiplexes and small apartment buildings in detached-housing neighbourhoods.
-Reform public hearings.
-Implement renter protections.
-Support public and non-profit housing developments.
BC government:
-Increase housing supply targets and expand zoning reforms.
-Commit to 250,000 non-market rental units.
-Create a new housing benefit.
-Reform property taxation.
-Update rent controls.
Federal government:
-Recommit the National Housing Strategy to build non-market housing and end
homelessness.
-Scale up the non-profit housing sector.
-Reform taxation of capital gains from housing.
