Surge of migration into B.C. in 2021 highlights need for housing: expert
Posted April 10, 2022 8:41 pm.
With new data showing a massive surge of migration into B.C. in 2021, an expert says it’s a sign that the province needs to get aggressive about building new housing.
According to Statistics Canada, B.C. welcomed over 100,000 people last year. That’s the highest number of people B.C. has taken in since 1961.
And it’s not just people arriving from abroad — nearly 40,000 of these people have come from other parts of the country.
Economist Tsur Somerville with the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business says it’s yet another indicator that new housing needs to be prioritized.
“We have to deal with the reality that if your population is going to grow, and if you’re going to have more young people, and if you’re going to have people coming here, then you’re going to need to build housing. And you’re gonna need to build more housing more quickly. It’s not just building housing. It’s also not taking five years to get it actually built.
Somerville adds a significant takeaway from the recent stat is “we’ve had positive migration of 20 to 34 year olds from the rest of Canada. And those people need more housing per capita.”
“People need to live somewhere, and if it’s always the need to live somewhere else, that’s really not very ethical.
Compared to the rest of the country, the only province which had more new arrivals than B.C. last year was Ontario.
