Burnaby to create its own housing authority under a municipal corporation

Construction cranes for new towers in the Brentwood area of Burnaby. (Shutterstock)

After conducting initial planning and research last year, the City of Burnaby has indicated it plans to launch the Burnaby Housing Authority (BHA) before the end of 2023.

As the name suggests, the entity will focus on growing Burnaby’s supply of below-market housing — not just below-market rental housing, but also below-market homeownership opportunities. It will also aim to introduce more market rental housing if such projects can incorporate and help subsidize below-market units.

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BHA will have a mandate to acquire lands to maximize the development potential of its portfolio, while also targeting properties in areas lacking non-market housing options. It could also partner with developers or acquire existing housing developments, such as projects under construction to improve the affordability of the new units.

The new housing authority will not only build the new housing, but also oversee the operations with non-profit housing organizations and other government agencies as an operating partner — not dissimilar to how many existing non-profit housing projects in BC are executed and operated, especially those by provincial crown corporation BC Housing.

Burnaby City Council previously directed City staff to explore the creation of a housing authority, with a governance structure of an arms-length municipal corporation and the municipal government as the sole shareholder.

BHA will have its own, independent of board of directors, comprised of experts and representatives in real estate development, real estate law and financing, construction management, housing operations, and non-market housing. The board will be appointed by City Council, with a majority of City Council and City representatives in order to “strengthen oversight of the use of City assets” provided to the municipal corporation. This also serves to steer BHA to achieve the City’s objectives of tackling housing and homelessness needs.

In order to create and launch the BHA under the municipal corporation framework, the municipal government needs to seek the approval of the provincial government. If approved by the provincial Inspector of Municipalities, this will be the City of Burnaby’s first use of the municipal corporation framework.

According to City staff, BHA’s launch and ongoing operations will require significant financial and non-financial resources, especially for the acquisition of land, capital costs for design and construction, and housing operations. But it is anticipated the City will have sufficient funds to support its mandate for BHA through its large accumulated affordable housing reserves, which are funded by private developers through their community benefit bonus (community amenity contributions) in exchange for added market residential density.

Ever since a change of political leadership in 2018, the City of Burnaby has made an enhanced effort to catalyze more non-market housing and implement more measures to address homelessness. It is anticipated the City’s efforts and measures will be channeled through BHA for amplification and a more effective implementation.

Other examples of municipal governments establishing their own housing entities and development corporations include the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency of the City of Vancouver and Toronto Community Housing of the City of Toronto, which both have a mandate to build and operate non-market housing. Toronto Community Housing, wholly owned by the municipal government, is the largest social housing provider in Canada and the second largest in North America.

Whistler Housing Authority, a municipally-owned corporation of the Resort Municipality of Whistler, established in 1997, focuses on creating and operating affordable housing options for employees of resort businesses and their families.

Earlier this year, the City of Surrey reinstated its wholly owned Surrey City Development Corporation, which has a mandate of mainly pursuing market residential, commercial, and industrial developments as a strategy to catalyze new economic growth in the jurisdiction.

According to the City of Burnaby, 38% of its households rent their housing.

Between 2008 and 2019, the supply of secured purpose-built rental housing in Burnaby dropped from 13,017 units to 11,871 units — a loss of 9% of the total secured rental housing supply. Many of these losses occurred in the Metrotown area through market residential redevelopments, before the City implemented inclusionary rental housing policies to mitigate future additional net losses.

While secured rental housing supply is vital, the unsecured secondary rental market — such as houses and condominiums used as income-generating rental properties by their private owners — accounts for 64% of Burnaby’s overall rental housing supply. Over 22,000 households in Burnaby live in secondary rental properties.

It is estimated an additional 15,000 homes — including 5,700 rental homes and 9,300 ownership homes — will be needed in Burnaby over the next decade to meet population growth. Currently, BC Housing has an affordable housing waitlist of over 1,800 households in Burnaby.

In July 2022, the City of Burnaby announced a partnership with BC Housing to acquire three existing older towers in the Metrotown area with 425 units of affordable co-operative housing for seniors and low-income individuals. Under BHA, the municipal government’s coordination and contribution of almost $30 million towards the project of maintaining these affordable homes would likely have come through BHA.

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