The federal government’s agency Build Canada Homes recently became a crown corporation. It can be added to the province’s BC Builds program and others spending billions of taxpayers dollars to promote more housing supply and affordability.
Those billions could be saved if three levels of government worked together to remove existing regulatory obstruction and reduce fees and taxes on new housing.
For example, VRBA’s Flex-Plex Housing Affordability Project was launched in Saanich in 2001. We partnered with Habitat for Humanity, BC Housing and CMHC to create a five unit townhouse project with three legal suites in Saanich.
The purpose was to introduce new housing policy – the first legal suites in Saanich improving both supply and affordability.
The project cost over half a million dollars in government funding, and was completed nine years later in 2010, slowed by regulatory hurdles.
Flex-Plex was highlighted in CMHC publications and won a national award from Habitat for Humanity Canada.
Fourteen years later, the BC government achieved the same result throughout BC with the simple stroke of a pen.
On July 1, 2024 municipalities were required to enable small-scale multi-unit housing, including secondary suites, in single family zones.
The extensive time and costs of Flex-Plex could have been saved if government had simply removed the municipal obstruction.
Multiple levels of crown corporations spending billions of taxpayers’ dollars are unnecessary if governments remove the regulatory hurdles, fees and taxes and let the market work.
Municipalities, provincial and federal governments tell builders where and what to build (zoning); when to build (permit approvals); how to build (building code); and how much revenue they require from the project (GST, PTT, PST, DCCs, CACs, permit fees).
It’s time for less government regulation and spending, not more.
Let the market work and save taxpayers billions.
This column appears Wednesdays in the Times Colonist.
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