Opinion: What no politician wants to admit about housing in BC leading up to the election
Written for Daily Hive by Trevor Koot, CEO of the BC Real Estate Association.
What would it mean to “fix” or “solve” the housing affordability crisis in BC? Ask 100 British Columbians and you might get 100 different answers. That’s because there are many interpretations of the term, all depending on an individual’s current housing and economic situation.
For some, it means owning a home. For others, it means upsizing to accommodate a growing family. For still others, it means finding reasonably priced rental property in a desired neighbourhood. While these wants and needs may differ, for many working British Columbians, these goals are now economically out of reach, and that’s a major problem for the future of the province. How do we build a bright future for life in BC when these fundamentals of livability are totally broken?
Both the provincial and federal governments talk as though they’re one policy announcement away from significantly rectifying these major issues. But that simply isn’t accurate. The unfortunate truth is that there is no one fix or solution available that will improve the overall housing environment in BC. Furthermore, the timeline for fixing these issues is likely far longer than any concerned British Columbian wants to hear. Improving housing affordability is going to be a lengthy and uncertain process built upon many incremental changes and policies.
What’s more, there are market realities that need to be recognized. Think about how many thousands of families across the province have worked hard to pull together the sizeable deposit necessary to buy a property. Let’s say that purchase price was $750,000. The government is not about to pass sweeping legislation that suddenly devalues that property down to $450,000, or it would put thousands of hard-working property owners into a negative equity situation, causing thousands of bankruptcies.
To that end, “restoring affordability” means levelling out home prices so they remain generally static. If home prices average out over time with inflation, pay increases, and the per-capita cost of housing declines, then affordability can be restored without impacting current homeowners.
Despite these realities, we continue to see headlines to the effect of, “ABC group proposes XYZ housing concept, but critics say it won’t solve housing affordability.” While it makes a grabby headline, that’s an impossible standard to put on anything.
Which brings us to a key point: Perhaps the first step in solving housing affordability isn’t searching for a quick-fix solution, but re-framing the conversation. Of course, even this won’t be easy. Governments love to exaggerate the impacts of policies as much as the media loves to play the skeptic. But neither approach is helpful.
There will always be naysayers and NIMBYs, but it’s incumbent upon media, informed critics, and measured opposing stakeholders to ensure they serve their role by focusing on moving us in the right direction and not sensationalizing policy for their own purposes. Not every policy change needs to be a home run, and over the last 10 years our housing policy has produced more strikeouts than productive at-bats. Fortunately, there are new initiatives moving us in the right direction, including incentive programs, streamlined processes, and the reconceptualizing of legacy practices.
Progress may be slow, and economic forces out of our control often bounce us temporarily off course. But we can’t let those things cloud our collective judgment or make us reach for fool’s gold. Media, critics, government, and other stakeholders need to stop minimizing progress by measuring a proposed idea against an impossible benchmark for success. No one idea will successfully fix or solve the housing crisis. No one group is at fault. No one generation holds the key.
If we can all take the time to remember that, then we’re on our way.