Provincial Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon tabled new legislation Tuesday that aspires to cut back on homebuilding construction times and simplify the process for accessing funds for critical services, infrastructure, and more.
If passed, the legislation would require local governments to shift their planning processes to an upfront framework, pre-zoning land to meet their housing needs and reducing the current use of the rezoning process.
As it stands, the Housing Ministry says some rapidly-growing municipalities use the rezoning process to negotiate with homebuilders for funding much-needed amenities.
“I’ve heard about homebuilders and municipalities getting caught in long-drawn-out negotiations or funding for amenities in some of our growing communities,” Kahlon explained at a Tuesday press conference.
“This can slow down construction, it can add additional and sometimes unexpected costs for many projects, and sometimes projects are no longer viable because of that.”
The bill would also create a new amenity cost charge tool that would give builders and municipalities a more transparent understanding of the costs associated with a housing project from the get-go.
Last month, Metro Vancouver approved a plan to substantially hike new development fees tacked onto construction that help pay for billions of dollars in planned upgrades to regional water, liquid waste and park infrastructure.
Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser condemned the move, penning a letter to the Metro Vancouver board chair, stating it would “deter development by offsetting the impact of other measures that reduce the cost of building.”
Tuesday’s provincial bill, however, would allow municipalities to use those development cost charges and levies to pay for other kinds of infrastructure as well, including fire halls, police facilities and solid waste facilities that support new homes. With the extension, they could also use the funds to pay for cost-shared provincial highway projects that benefit their community, if required to access housing projects near a provincial highway, for example.
As it stands, one of the only options to recover such costs were through property taxes, the Ministry of Housing says.
In a Tuesday news release, the mayors of Abbotsford, Langley City, Victoria and New Wesminster all supported the proposal.
Greater Vancouver Board of Trade president Bridgitte Anderson gave it the thumbs up as well, “so long as fees remain modest to no impact development.”
“The need to reform development financing was a key finding of the Development Approvals Process Review report,” added Trevor Koot, CEO of the BC Real Estate Association.
“The BC Real Estate Association is supportive of efforts on the part of government to bring more clarity, transparency and predictability to the fees collected by local government from builders of new housing.”
In April, the B.C. government announced a multi-billion-dollar, four-point housing plan aimed at cracking down on soaring real estate prices, increasing construction and creating more rental units.
It commits $4 billion over three years and $12 billion over a decade to boosting stock and lowering prices, changing provincewide zoning laws to allow more townhomes, duplexes, triplexes and row homes, and implementing a tax on the proceeds of house-flipping.
Editor’s Note: This is a corrected article. An earlier version misspelled Bridgitte Anderson’s first name.
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