Opinion: Four key housing questions to ask BC election candidates
Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by BC Real Estate Association’s (BCREA) advocacy projects manager Mark Sakai and policy analyst Brenna Friesen.
With the clock quickly ticking down to British Columbia’s provincial election, housing affordability remains at the top of the list of critical issues facing voters.
Almost everyone reading this will know someone facing uncertainty and challenges with their housing situation. It could be the inability to find any housing that fits their current requirements, concerns about escalating rent, or anxiety about an upcoming purchase or sale transaction.
These challenges, in one form or another, are faced by people along the entire housing spectrum. As a result, there are no “silver bullets.” There’s no single solution to our housing affordability crisis, which makes the issue all the more politically important.
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Whichever party wins the upcoming election will need to seek robust solutions — and enact them concurrently — to address the various gaps in housing supply and related challenges.
In the final days before the election, it’s important that voters engage with candidates to understand what policies they (and their parties) are planning to enact if they form the next government.
Here are four key questions to ask your local candidates, along with some background and context on each.
1. “What will your government do to encourage the construction of more housing units, appropriate for all types of households and income levels?”
Multiple studies and reports have clearly demonstrated that BC and Canada as a whole have not been building enough housing to meet demand, with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) study being the most cited.
In BC alone, CMHC lead economist Braden Batch estimates the need for 500,000 to 700,000 housing units by 2030 to restore 2003 and 2004 levels of affordability. As a result, prices have escalated at rates well beyond inflation and the ability of household incomes to support rent or mortgage payments.
Here’s a follow-up question for good measure: “The previous government focused much of its policy on increasing density in single-family dwelling zones and in areas around public transit stations. Do you feel that this is the correct approach, and if not, what would your government do differently?”
2. “Would your government favour building more new market and non-market rental units, and what policies would you adopt to create incentives for their development?”
Renters are facing increasing pressure as rental rates increase, and the prospect of moving to a new unit will result in a dramatic escalation in rent.
Experience in many urban markets has shown that the “short-term gain” solution (rent/vacancy controls) can result in “long-term pain” (a reduction in new rental units built) and ultimately fails to address rental unaffordability.
3. “Would your government commit to a review of the Property Transfer Tax (PTT) to relieve the burden on first-time home buyers? And would your government re-evaluate other housing-related taxes (such as the Foreign Buyer Tax, Speculation and Vacancy Tax, and Flipping Tax) to determine their effectiveness?”
First-time homebuyers have many obstacles in their way as they seek their first home.
Two policy areas of concern to BCREA include the Property Transfer Tax (PTT) and the Home Buyer Rescission Period (HBRP). With the HBRP, buyers are foregoing due diligence they mistakenly believe the HBRP will allow for and losing potential purchases and their rescission fees.
Meanwhile, the PTT was originally implemented in 1987 as a wealth tax and applied to only the top 5% of purchases. The $200,000 threshold for the PTT’s application has not changed since its implementation, even though it’s nearly impossible to buy property under $200,000 in today’s market. This means virtually all buyers are paying the PTT.
4. “Would your party support the establishment of a Permanent Housing Roundtable made up of a limited number of key stakeholders, tasked with evaluating new housing policies and monitoring their outcomes?”
We’ve seen several policy initiatives undertaken by various levels of government that, though well-intentioned, have resulted in unforeseen negative consequences or less-than-effective outcomes. Future governments would greatly benefit from a more consultative relationship with housing experts who can help inform housing policy in a more permanent and holistic manner. Many market and non-market housing stakeholders have endorsed this concept.
As mentioned earlier, there is no “silver bullet” to solving the housing crisis. It will take collaboration from all levels of government and many others to accomplish the goal of providing more housing options for more people in more places.
If candidates do not initially provide a satisfactory answer to these or any of your questions, we encourage you to dig deeper for an answer. If a candidate ultimately cannot provide an answer that satisfies your understanding of consequential solutions to BC’s housing attainability crisis, consider whether this candidate or party is worthy of your vote.