Building Capacity to Increase Housing Supply

The transformation of BC’s housing development system through recent legislation will require local governments throughout the province to remake local zoning and planning to integrate the new provincial rules. The scale of the work is considerable, as it touches on all aspects of local policy that relate to building sustainable communities, and needs to be completed within tight timelines.

Housing the Next Million British Columbians

A panel of six mayors discussed the view from their cities as BC faces population growth of one million people over eight years, and the suite of legislative initiatives designed to increase housing supply. They covered topics from the need for infrastructure to match increased density; reimagining what it looks like to live in dense cities; and the need for legislatively protected affordable housing.

Taking Stock of BC's Affordable Housing Needs

A panel of experts spoke to Summit participants about the need for affordable housing in BC, and various ways they have worked to improve the situation. Don Elliot with the Capital Region Housing Corporation shared what that regional district has done to build protected non-market rentals in the greater Victoria region. Mayor Janice Morrison of Nelson shared the approaches Nelson has developed to increase affordable gentle density, through creative partnerships. Katie Maslechko spoke of the old rental stock the Rental Protection Fund is helping to buy, to keep as existing affordable rental units. And the Executive Lead for the newly launched BC Builds program, Lisa Helps, described the new provincial program to build attainable housing for middle-income British Columbians.

A message from UBCM's President Trish Mandewo as the Summit begins:

Kahlon took questions from UBCM members

In a question-and-answer period, provincial Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon took questions from UBCM members. Issues covered: supporting local governments to require developers to actually build the housing councils approve; matching infrastructure funding to housing targets; non-profit partnerships; staff capacity coordination opportunities; and more.

Small Scale Multi-Unit Housing as seen by all sizes of BC communities

The consensus among the two breakout sessions on small-scale multi-unit housing changes, which will allow multiple homes on single family lots across the province, is that the SSMUH legislation is not a silver bullet and that no immediate increase in density is expected. The breakouts were divided into small and mid-sized communities, and large urban cities. Both groups said infrastructure was the number one challenge facing their communities to implement the required changes. Staffing and capacity were unanimously the second and third challenges listed.

Small Mid-Sized

Large urban