B.C. premier steadfast in government-led solutions in speech at housing conference

B.C.'s premier was unapologetic in chronicling his government's hands-on approach to creating more affordable housing during a speech made to the largest conference for community housing builders in the province.

David Eby spoke to open the second day of B.C.'s Affordable Housing conference, which annually brings together advocates, organizations and builders that are trying to find ways to build affordable, lasting housing in a province where many residents struggle to find appropriate homes due to cost and availability.

It was the anniversary of Eby's first speaking engagement at the conference, shortly after he was sworn in as B.C. premier. He said during that time 150,000 people moved to the province — a record.

"We need to build a lot of housing to respond to that," he said about the increasing pressure on housing in the province.

The B.C. NDP has had a busy fall announcing housing-related initiatives or legislation meant to restrict short-term rental accommodations, fast-track building approvals, build more housing at transit locations and have standardized designs for small-scale, multi-unit homes, such as townhomes, triplexes and laneway homes that can quickly expedite the permitting process in cities and be built.

Eby was direct in his speech about his outlook on the province's role in creating housing legislation, owning land for development, and cutting red tape at the municipal level to get building underway.

He joked about his government as "known radicals" and blamed the current housing crisis on previous governments, both provincially and federally, for ceasing to build housing for middle-income earners and leaving it up to the market. 

"What we've seen is people bidding up lower and lower and lower-income housing and pushing down and down until people fall out of the market now and in increasingly disturbing numbers across the country," he said.

Eby said 77,000 units had been built or were being built in partnership with organizations at the conference. In September, a Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation report showed B.C. is facing a 600,000-unit shortfall by 2030 at current building rates.

Still Eby thanked attendees at the conference for their work to push forward with housing projects despite the difficulties, recognizing there was fatigue but also pressed organizations to "do more."

"Housing is central to the major challenges we face, you are central to the solutions we face, thank you for your work."

Alex Hemingway, who studies the housing crisis in B.C. as a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says the province is still outstanding on its B.C. Builds plan, part of which is to build non-market housing in the province targeting middle-income earners, which Eby spoke about on Tuesday.

Hemingway said the program is expected to use public land and the province's ability to borrow money at lower rates than the private sector is able to provide units.

"What a program like that has the potential to do, is not only bring new housing online that can help ease the shortage but also bring online homes that are immediately more affordable and protected from the whims of market rents," said Hemingway.