Tuesday January 30, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
BC Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon will attend the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) Housing Summit. The event theme is Local Vision Local Action.
The summit will be held February 13 and 14 in Vancouver. Kahlon will take questions from local government leaders on February 13.
The Housing Summit is UBCM’s offering to municipal elected officials and staff as an opportunity to discuss the significant challenges and changes facing the housing system in BC.
The Planning Institute of BC has recognized participation at UBCM’s 2024 Housing Summit as counting towards its Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) requirement. Planners attending the full summit will receive 14.5 units toward the 18-unit annual requirement.
Recent changes in housing:
“The two-day summit will help local governments take stock of recent changes to the way housing is planned for and developed in their communities,” said UBCM in a news bulletin yesterday.
The Province introduced a suite of housing legislative changes in the Fall 2023 session. There will be a sweeping effect across cities and towns over time, starting with the largest cities being required to identify Transit Oriented Areas (TOA’s) where housing density will need to be higher.
All communities will be concerned about demands for infrastructure revisions or upgrades as population density increases.
Municipalities will be encouraged to apply ACC’s (amenity cost charges) ahead of housing development, as a way to avoid catch-up with infrastructure after housing is built. Presently, developers are often required to pay DCC’s (development cost charges) which municipalities use to deal with infrastructure needs after completion of housing development.
Where it works in terms of infrastructure, there is now the option for property owners to revise the structure on their single family lot to instead be a duplex, triplex or fourplex. Off-the-shelf multiplex designs will be available to home builders.
There has also been a clamp-down on short-term rentals as a way to free up housing supply.
Municipal buy-in:
Not all municipalities are happy about the significant and fast changes to housing legislation. It lands a lot more responsibility on their shoulders and means a lot more work for staff.
In some municipalities there has been pushback over the fact that municipal councils will in many cases have less influence over the shaping and development of their communities. Last fall, the Mayor of Oak Bay was outspoken about the impact on democracy at the local level and the the Town of View Royal protested loss of council consideration for public input on developments.
But other larger municipalities — notably Victoria and Saanich — are fully on board with housing growth to meet the challenges of BC’s population increase. The Mayor of Saanich joined Minister Kahlon in a few housing-related announcements last fall.
Population increase:
The population of BC is over 5.5 million (2023) and continues to grow by as much as 75,000 to 125,000 people per year as more people arrive in BC from other provinces and from international locations.
Some communities have already experienced fast growth over the last 10 to 15 years, notably Surrey on the Lower Mainland and the west shore area of Greater Victoria.
Population replacement in BC (births over deaths) is expected to reach net zero by 2030. Most population growth is thereby from immigration.
Spring 2024 session:
The Ministry of Housing is developing legislative tools, which will be brought forward in spring 2024, to support local government in developing inclusionary zoning policies to create more affordable housing.
In early 2024, the ministry in partnership will also launch BC Builds, a new program that will leverage public and low-cost land, faster development timelines and low-interest construction financing and grants, to increase the amount of rental housing that is affordable for people and families with middle incomes.
Last fall, Kahlon said that of course the spring legislative session will be robust given the upcoming election presently scheduled for October 19, 2024. “People sent us here to take action,” he said in a media availability on November 30, 2023 at the legislature.
===== RELATED:
- Municipalities get provincial funding to help with housing growth process (January 17, 2024)
- Six Vancouver Island municipalities must designate Transit Oriented Areas (December 7, 2023)
- BC takes transformative action on housing in fall session (November 30, 2023)
- View Royal & Oak Bay push back on housing legislation (November 17, 2023)
- Housing supply boost with off-the-shelf multiplex designs (November 16, 2023)
- Saanich is up to the task of building more homes quickly, says Mayor (November 13, 2023)
- Hoped-for housing explosion based on multi-unit zoning (November 2, 2023)
- HOUSING NEWS (searchable news section)
- BC PROVINCIAL ELECTION 2024 (searchable news section)