Our Jordan Bateman gives you the heads-up on CleanBC cleaning out your pockets, the federal fiscal update, and the potential unintended consequences of rezoning all single family homes in BC.
💸 BC United was all over the NDP yesterday, attacking their flawed CleanBC plan, which the government’s own numbers shows will cut B.C.’s economic growth in half and return average per-capita income to 2013 levels – a full 17 years of lost raises! It could also drive construction costs up by one-third! BC United leader Kevin Falcon has vowed to scrap the plan. For more, check out ICBA’s new Construction Monitor, released today.
đź—Ł If you love government debt, you loved the latest economic statement from the Trudeau Government yesterday. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland sounded like she was unveiling new government programs to support homebuilding, yet these initiatives largely echo previous announcements, indicating a lack of substantial progress on the housing file. Despite an additional $15 billion in loans for the Apartment Construction Loan Program, critics argue that these measures are inadequate in addressing the real challenges of housing affordability and construction efficiency in Canada. Meanwhile, Freeland projects a $40 billion deficit this year, and no balanced budgets through at least 2030.
🏠Legislation – especially around housing – is often a double-edged sword, with unintended consequences. In a recent commentary by Michael Geller in the Vancouver Sun, significant changes to B.C.’s zoning bylaws are set to revolutionize single-family neighborhoods, raising critical questions. These changes, allowing the construction of multiplexes with up to six, and in some cases eight, dwellings on a single lot, are touted as a solution to housing scarcity. However, there are concerns about the implications, including increased demands on infrastructure and potential changes in market dynamics. With no off-street parking requirements under the new bylaws and varying costs per square foot, depending on the location, the construction industry faces new challenges in adapting to these regulations. Critics question whether these changes will effectively address affordability issues, given the high estimated costs of new housing units under the new scheme.
