Opinion: The next policies B.C. government must pursue to deliver more homes | Daily Hive

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Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by Peter Waldkirch, who is a director with Abundant Housing Vancouver.

Vancouver’s housing crisis isn’t going away. We need a provincial government that treats housing as a top priority.

While Premier David Eby’s government has passed some important legislation, there’s still a lot more to do. The provincial action so far hasn’t done nearly enough, especially in Vancouver, the epicentre of the province’s housing crisis.

But the recent appointment of Christine Boyle as British Columbia’s new Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs is a positive sign, and her experience at Vancouver City Hall could be an important asset.

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Boyle’s experience is important because municipal mis-governance is a major cause of the housing crisis. We’ve traditionally treated housing as a matter of primarily local concern.

This is a mistake: society has a general interest in a healthy, affordable housing system.

But local politicians have the wrong incentives. They can win elections by ignoring all the people who have been priced out of their city. Low turnout in local elections, particularly among renters and young people, makes this worse.

This dynamic fosters institutional NIMBYism (“Not In My Back Yard”) in municipal governance. Vancouver’s planning and politics since the 1970s have made it harder and harder to build new housing; since then, we’ve built about 40 per cent less housing (per capita) than we used to.

We’ve been under-building housing for decades, which has led to today’s severe shortage of housing. We’ve all seen what this looks like: sky-high prices, lack of choice, people doubling up in one-bedroom apartments, and more. We can’t just keep pushing people deeper and deeper into the suburbs.

It’s clear that senior levels of government need to step in. B.C. isn’t the only place that has learned this painful lesson: California and New Zealand were leaders, and now over 30 U.S. states have passed pro-housing reforms.

B.C.’s previous housing minister, Ravi Kahlon, got off to a good start with two significant reforms: the legalization of multiplexes in single-family home areas and the designation of Transit-Oriented Areas (TOAs) with minimum land-use requirements. Multiplexes are a common-sense minimum standard, and TOAs promote sustainable and complete communities.

Unfortunately, these reforms have had very little impact in the City of Vancouver. The provincial multiplex design guidelines are not mandatory, so the City’s existing (and ineffective) multiplex policy was unaffected. And the TOA law leaves open loopholes that allow cities to block TOA-compliant housing.

The implementation of TOAs for standalone major bus exchanges is especially underwhelming. The Province only designated one that is wholly within the City of Vancouver, the Dunbar bus loop. In comparison, Vernon received two bus TOAs.

It took leadership to enact these pro-housing reforms. Simply asserting that housing is a matter of provincial concern was an important step. But it’s been too little to make a real difference to the housing crisis.

We need someone in the room who has first-hand experience with the broken municipal housing system. That’s where Boyle’s time in civic government is an asset. In her six years as a Vancouver city councillor, she had a strong pro-housing record and saw how difficult the City makes it to build housing.

Two easy fixes to the existing legislation would help reassure the public that the government remains committed to fixing our housing crisis.

First, the provincial government’s multiplex policy should be made mandatory. Cities across the province, including Vancouver, have done the bare minimum to comply with provincial law. The government intended for multiplexes to be a viable alternative to single-family homes across the province. That won’t happen so long as the design guidelines are non-binding.

Second, the government needs a more robust approach to TOAs. Abandoning their absurdly restrictive approach to bus stops is low-hanging fruit. Every B-Line and RapidBus stop should be a TOA, without exception. The B-Line and R4 RapidBus each handle more boardings than the entire Vernon regional transit system — there’s no good reason each stop shouldn’t be a TOA.

While these two minor reforms won’t solve the crisis, they are quick fixes that would demonstrate housing is still a priority for the government.

Ultimately, the government needs to embrace the fundamental principle that our housing system should support enough housing to meet demand. In Vancouver, that means legalizing apartments across the city.

It’s time for the government to show whether or not it’s actually committed to fixing this mess. They’ve done good things, but it’s going to take much bolder action to get real results. Boyle has her work cut out for her, but there’s reason to hope she’s the right person for the job.

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