A lack of housing affordability is directly linked to the cost of construction.
This includes the rising costs associated with disposing of excavated material to build new housing in Greater Victoria.
In 2023, the BC government’s new soil testing regulation made it more difficult to dispose of clean soil.
The regulation was intended to test soil from commercial and industrial sites, not residential.
However, landfill sites require testing of clean soil from residential areas, citing the province’s regulation.
In addition, there is a lack of soil dumping sites in our region, resulting in builders hauling loads up-island, taking several hours for a single round trip.
The hauling and disposal costs can cost tens of thousands of dollars – an unnecessary expense if local and provincial governments provided reasonable regulations and more local landfill sites.
Politicians have much to say about making housing more affordable, yet they create unintended consequences ranging from higher housing prices to illegal dumping.
The BC government with local governments need to fix the regulations and create more local landfill sites on suitable provincial land.
Otherwise, excavation costs will continue to rise undermining governments’ goal of creating thousands of homes over the next decade.
Unlike interest rates and tariffs, this challenge falls squarely within the provincial and local governments’ ability to resolve.
This year, local elections are October 17 and advocacy for affordable excavations and soil-dumping sites would be appreciated by homebuyers and industry.
If candidates support housing affordability, they must demonstrate an understanding of where affordability starts.
This column appears Wednesdays in the Times Colonist.
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